EXCHANGE 


38  iS 


PRELIMINARY   REPORT 


CONDITIONS    AND    NEEDS 


RURAL  SCHOOLS  IN  WISCONSIN 


i  RESULTS  OF  FIELD  STUDY  REPORTED 

to  the 
WISCONSIN  STATE  BOARD  OF  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS 

by  the 
TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  PUBLIC  SERVICE 


AUGUST,   1912 


PRELIMINARY  REPORT 


CONDITIONS    AND    NEEDS 


OF 


RURAL  SCHOOLS  IN  WISCONSIN 


RESULTS  OF  FIELD  STUDY  REPORTED 

to  the 
WISCONSIN  STATE  BOARD  OF  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS 

by  the 
TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  PUBLIC  SERVICE 


AUGUST,   1912 


^ 


TABLE  OP  CONTENTS. 


Letter   of   Transmittal 


PART  I 

Factors  which  Make  for  Progress  in  Rural  Schools 7 

PART  II 
Lax  Methods  of  Controlling  School  Expenditures 13 

PART  III 
Sanitary  and  Educational  Conditions  of  Rural  Schools 26 

PART  IV 

Some  Serious  Defects  of  County  Supervision 70 

PART  V 
Some  Serious  Defects  of  State  Supervision 78 

PART  VI 

Contrast    between    State    Supervision    of    State    Graded 

Schools  and  State  Supervision  of  Rural  Schools 83 

PART  VII 

Suggested  Administrative  and  Legislative  Remedies 87 


343073 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


In  November  1911,  it  was  announced  that  a  fund  for  9,  five- 
year  test  of  field  training  for  public  service  had  been  raised  by 
Mrs.  E.  H.  Harriman  and  that  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Muni- 
cipal Eesearch  was  to  conduct  the  test. 

Of  the  five  purposes  named  by  the  donors  the  following  sug- 
gested the  study,  here  reported,  of  the  Wisconsin  rural  schools: 
"To  qualify  men  to  meet  the  growing  need  for  students  in  ad- 
ministration com'petent  (a)  to  test,  and  (b)  to  improve  meth- 
ods and  results  of  municipal  service. " 

Because  1,400,000  of  Wisconsin's  2,500,000  people  are  in 
rural  communities,  and  because  no  field  of  public  service  more 
needs  to  have  its  men  and  its  methods  tested  than  does  the  field 
of  public  education,  we  were  glad  to  accept  the  invitation  to 
collaborate  with  the  Wisconsin  State  Board  of  Public  Affairs  in 
studying  rural  school  conditions  and  needs  in  Wisconsin. 

In  obtaining  and  interpreting  the  facts  here  reported  we  have 
received  the  unstinted  cooperation  of  state  and  county  superin- 
tendents, teachers  and  other  individuals  interested  in  public  edu- 
cation in  all  parts  of  Wisconsin.  The  findings,  summarized  under 
the  seven  headings  noted  in  the  table  of  contents,  are  based  upon 
a  general  examination  of  conditions  in  27  counties  in  widely 
separated  portions  of  the  state  and  upon  a  more  detailed  investi- 
gation of  conditions  in  131  schools  in  13  counties.  Most  of  the 
significant  facts  about  rural  school  accounting  were  gathered  by 
F.  S.  Staley,  field  agent  of  the  State  Board  of  Public  Affairs, 
now  with  the  Training  School. 

To  support  the  summary  given  in  this  preliminary  report  we 
submit  a  detailed,  itemized  description  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  study  was  conducted  and  the  details  as  to  each  school  visited. 

As  agreed  upon  before  we  undertook  this  study,  our  recom- 
mendations, so  far  as  they  relate  to  steps  which  might  need  to 
be  varied  according  to  an.  intimate  knowledge  of  different  parts 


6       Conditions  and  \<«ls  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

of  "Wisconsin,  have  been  made  after  review  by  the  State  Board 
of  Public  Affairs.  While  we  make  these  recommendations  with- 
out reservation,  we  feel  that  their  main  worth  is  in  the  fact  that 
they' represent  the  judgment  not  merely  of  our  own  investigators, 
but  of  Wisconsin  students  and  officers  of  your  Honorable  Board. 

FOR  THE  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  PUBLIC  SERVICE 

JOHN  B.  PINE  WILLIAM  H.  ALLEN 

GEORGE  B.  HOPKINS  Director 

FRANK  L.  POLK  S.   G.   LINDHOLM 

Committee  of  Trustees  A.  N.  FARMER 

II.  L.  BRITTAIN 

Investigators 


PART  I 


Factors  Which  Make  for  Progress  in  Rural 
Schools 


1 — The  law  is  raising  standards 

a — By  offering  state  aid  it  has  stimulated  many  school  districts 
to  grade  their  schools,  secure  additional  and  better  teach- 
ers, and  to  conform  to  standards  set  by  the  state  depart- 
ment 

b — By  granting  conditionally  $50  a  year  to  each  rural  school  of 
the  first  class,  heating,  ventilation  and  equipment  have 
been  improved 

c — By  setting  aside  ten  cents  per  child  of  the  state  appropriation, 
better  library  books  are  circulating  in  the  rural  schools 

d — By  placing  the  state  inspectors  in  a  position  to  condemn 
unfit  school  buildings,  the  erection  of  modern  school  build- 
ings has  been  stimulated 

e — By  giving  higher  salaries,  tenure  of  office,  protection  of  the 
civil  service  law  to  state  inspectors-so  long  as  efficient 
service  is  rendered,— and  greater  responsibility  to  the  state 
superintendent  it  has  enabled  the  state  inspectors  to  gain 
an  increasing  independence  and  familiarity  with  school 
management  and  influence  upon  school  boards,  such  as  the 
county  superintendents,  under  the  present  conditions,,  can- 
not hope  to  attain 

2 — The  state  superintendent  is  raising1  standards 

a — By  insisting  on  the  use  of  the  manual  the  courses  of  study 
are  gradually  being  standardized 


8       Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

b — By  publishing  and  distributing  pamphlets  and  -circulars  of 
information,  interest  in  special  activities  such  as  tree  plant- 
ing, bird  study,  and  agricultural  teaching  has  been  stimu- 
lated, teachers  have  been  advised  in  methods  of  school 
management,  and  other  help  has  been  given 

c — By  promoting  county  conventions,  school  boards  have  been 
*  instructed  in  their  duties,  and,-as  they  show  in  conventions 
and   testify   in   private   conversations   with   investigators,- 
greatly  interested  and  helped 

d — By  enforcing  the  conditions  upon  which  state  aid  to  state 
graded  schools  has  been  granted  improvements  are  taking 
place  in  them  at  a  rate  which  leaves  the  rural  schools  hope- 
lessly behind:  the  teachers  are  better  paid,  the  teaching 
more  efficient,  the  equipment  more  complete,  the  school 
board  more  alert  in  following  the  recomm'endations  of  the 
inspector 

3 — Leadership  among  individual  superintendents  and  teach- 
ers is  playing  an  important  part  in  raising  standards 

In  spite  of  defects  in  organization,  lack  of  authority  and 
inadequacy  of  clerical  help,  many  instances  have  been  found 
where  a  strong  personality  has  found  ways  of  effectively  direct- 
ing thef  school  boards,  supervising  teachers,  starting  instruction 
in  useful  arts  and  helping  teachers  to  be  leaders  in  community 
life.  One  striking  illustration  of  such  leadership  is  furnished 
by  Oconto  county,  which  differs  not  so  much  in  the  kind  as 
in  the  number  of  forward  steps  taken.  The  difference  in  this 
respect  is  due,  in  part,  to  the  fact  that  the  county  board  allows 
the  county  superintendent  an  office  assistant  at  $20  a  m'onth  for 
nine  months,  only  $180  a  year 

The  long  list  of  conditions  later  mentioned  will  seem  easier 
of  correction,  as  well  as  more  in  need  of  correction,  if  viewed 
against  the  background  of  such  splendid  service  as  is  rendered 
every  day  in  Oconto  county 

a — Truancy  is  actually  supervised 

(1)  The  teachers  have  been  taught  to  understand  the  pur- 
pose of  the  truancy  law;  to  submit  intelligent, 
accurate  reports  of  attendance;  to  secure  through 
the  children  or  by  personal  visits  the  reasons  for 
nonattendance  and  to  submit  reports  thereon;  and 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.       9 

to  cooperate  with  the  county  superintendent  in  se- 
curing better  attendance 

(2)  Cases   where   the   excuse   for  absence   is   of  doubtful 

legality  are  investigated  by  the  county  superin- 
tendent 

(3)  Parents  who  are  delinquent  in  sending  their  children 

are  visited  in  person  by  the  sheriff  and  warned  not 
to  repeat  the  offense;  a  second  offense  is  followed 
by  arrest 

(4)  Records  of  the  action  of  the  sheriff  and  the  county 

superintendent  are  kept  in  the  superintendent's 
office,  as  are  notifications  to  teachers  of  such  action 

(5)  A  visit  to  the  office  will  enable  the  deputy  of  the  in- 

dustrial commission  to  check  the  enforcement  of  the 
truancy  law  in  this  county 

b — Teachers  are  efficiently  supervised 

(1)  Detailed  records   of  observations  made   during  visits 

to  schools  are  kept  on  file 

(2)  Records   are  kept  of  teachers'   school   programs   and 

attendance  at  institutes  and  teachers'  associations 

(3)  Records  that  are  kept  of  suggestions  in  all  lines  of 

school  work,  and  of  results  seen,  form  a  complete 
history  of  the  teacher's  career 

(4)  Special  emphasis  is  laid  on  work  in  agriculture  and 

domestic  economy 

c — School  boards  are  interested,  informed  and  guided 

(1)  Letters  are  sent  to  school  boards  stating  in  detail  the 

conditions  found  at  the  visit  to  the  school;  praise 
is  given  for  im'provement  made  since  the  previous 
visit;  and  suggestions  made  as  to  what  is  immedi- 
ately needful 

(2)  An  annual  letter  is  sent  to  each  school  board  calling 

attention  to  things  which  are  especially  desirable  in 
its  school,  such  as  cleaning  the  interior  of  the  school, 
tinting  the  walls,  painting  the  woodwork,  providing 
stone  or  metal  jars  with  faucets,  card  catalogues, 
book  cases,  repairing  of  binding,  building  of  out- 
houses, fencing  and  improvement  of  school  grounds, 
introducing  a  new  method  of  writing,  etc, 


10     Conditions  ami  \<«!s  <>[  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

d — Social  center  and  extension  work  is  under  way 

(1)  Teachers  and  school  boards  are  assisted  in  introducing 

cooking  and  sewing  into  the  schools,  and  in  arrang- 
ing corn  contests,  use  of  Babcock  testers,  spelling 
contests  and  school  entertainments 

(2)  School  exhibits  are  arranged  at  county  fairs,   where 

cooking,  sewing,  seed  tests,  writing  and  other 
branches  are  explained  to  parents  and  taxpayers 

e — Publicity  is  given  to  school  facts 

(1)  The  four  county  newspapers  each  devote  coluirins  to 

a  "Department  of  School  News."  School  stories 
of  interest  to  the  public  are  printed ;  observations  by 
the  superintendent  on  conditions  found  while  visit- 
ing schools;  letters  from  pupils  or  reports  of  special 
school  activities,  such  as  the  work  of  a  sewing  club, 
a  spelling  contest  or  seed  testing;  the  reports  of 
institutes,  teachers'  meetings  and  social  center  work, 
etc. 

(2)  Through  this  publicity  interest  in   school  matters  is 

kept  alive  not  only  among  parents,  but  among  pupils 
and  teachers.  Every  school,  every  teacher,  every 
pupil  and  even  board  members  wish  to  appear  in 
the  school  columns  and  are  eager  to  do  something 
mi  My  noteworthy  and  of  value 

('))  Some  of  the  interest  thus  created  has  shown  itself  in 
the  offer  by  citizens  of  $50  for  spelling  prizes,  of 
$50  for  growing  seed  peas,  of  two  scholarships  to  the 
winners  of  the  corn  tests,  of  which  a  considerable 
number  is  held  in  the  county  and  in  which  more 
than  300  children  are  enrolled 

f — Other  examples  of  wlmt  may  be  accomplished  by  thoroughly 

live  and    intelligent    county  supervision   are  the  following: 

(1)    In  one  eciinly  the  superintendent  was  interested  in 

having  children  taught  to  clean  their  teeth.     Last 

year  she  took  up  the  m'atter  with  her  teachers  at 

the  sectional  meetings  of  the  teachers'  association 

and  at  the  regular  county  institute.     A  company 

manufacturing  a  tooth  paste,  supplied  for  all  the 

children  in  the  county  cards  giving  directions  for 

the  care  of  the  teeth  as  well  as  samples  of  the 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     11 

tooth  paste.  In  each  of  the  four  schools  visited 
in  that  county,  all  the  children  reported  that  they 
brushed  their  teeth  daily.  The  county  superin- 
tendent stated  that  the  children  throughout  the 
county  were  doing  the  same 

(2)  In  another  county  a  superintendent  desired  to  have 

the  girls  in  the  rural  schools  taught  to  make  their 
own  clothing.  At  every  opportunity  she  talked 
the  matter  over  with  her  teachers.  At  the  1911 
summer  school  held  in  her  county,  the  superin- 
tendent organized  a  class  in  sewing,  drafting  and 
cutting  sim'ple  garments.  This  class  was  taught 
by  a  rural  school  teacher  who  was  an  unusually 
skillful  needlewoman.  She  served  without  pay, 
there  being  no  funds  available  to  pay  her.  AS  a 
result,  the  teachers  taking  this  work  are  making 
most  of  their  own  clothing  and  everyone  of  them 
is  teaching  sewing  in  her  school.  The  investigator 
saw  some  of  the  work  done.  Among  the  articles 
made  by  the  school  girls  were  suits  of  underwear, 
aprons,  waists  and  simple  dresses.  All  this  was 
accomplished  after  one  year's  work  by  the  county 
superintends! 

(3)  In  one  county  3,000  children  are  enrolled  in  seed 

testing  and  corn  growing  contests.  To  stimulate 
interest  in  this  work  a  two  days  teachers',  pupils' 
and  parents'  institute  was  held  in  December,  1911. 
Every  rural  school  teacher  in  the  county  was  pres- 
ent on  full  pay.  The  children  from  the  upper 
form  were  invited  and  over  200  attended.  With 
the  children  came  many  parents.  The  program 
consisted  of  addresses  by  specialists  in  corn  grow- 
ing who  gave  demonstrations  showing  just  how 
and  when  seed  corn  should  be  selected,  cared  for, 
and  tested.  Teachers  gave  their  experience  in 
teaching  this  work  and  all  profited  by  the  stories 
of  their  successes  and  failures.  The  meeting  re- 
sulted in  much  good.  Throughout  the  county,  the 
formal  textbook  instruction  in  agriculture  has 
been  replaced  by  laboratory  work  of  the  most 
practical  kind.  Because  of  the  study  of  seeds  and 


12     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

seed  testing  in  one  of  the  schools  of  this  county, 
farmers  discovered  that  their  own  seed  corn  was 
poor  and  paid  a  high  price  to  get  good  seed.  For 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  this  rather  old 
farming  community  seed  testing  is  done  in  a 
proper  way.  And  this  was  taught  them  by  their 
children  who  had  learned  the  lesson  in  the  rural 
school 


PART  II 


Lax  Methods  of  Controlling  School  Expenditures 


1 — The  biennial  state  reports  of  common  school  finances  have 
been  inaccurate 

If  the  balance  reported  on  page  337,  Fourteenth  Biennial  Re- 
port, to  be  on  hand  June  30,  1905,  and  all  subsequent  item's  of 
receipts  and  disbursements,  be  accepted  as  accurate,  the  last 
reported  balance,  June  30,  1910  of  $3,649,547.71  is  incorrect; 
an  over-statement  of  $39,561.57. 

2 — The  financial  reports  of  town  clerks  are  inaccurate 

An  analysis  of  financial  reports  submitted  by  town  clerks  to 
the  county  superintendents  shows  that  the  irregularities  orig- 
inate in  the  district  reports.  Reports  have  been  analyzed  from 
125  town  clerks  in  four  counties,  covering  the  school  years,  June 
30,  1908  to  June  30,  1911.  The  annual  balances  were  taken  as 
tests 

a — Of  479  balances  227,  or  47.4%,  were  stated  incorrectly 

b — In  147  out  of  a  possible  354,  or  41.5%  the  balances  on  hand 
at  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal  year  'morning,  July  1,  were 
different  from  those  reported  for  the  end  of  the  preceding} 
year,  night,  June  30 

c — Although  tbe  irregularities  must  have  been  apparent  both  to 
the  county  superintendents,  and  to  the  state  superintend- 
ent who  submits  them"  as  official  reports  to  the  legislature, 
no  evidence  has  been  found  that  steps  have  been  taken  to 
verify  the  accuracy  of  these  financial  reports 


14     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

d — No  evidence  has  been  found  that  instructions  have  been 
issued  to  school  officers  explaining  how  to  keep  accounts 
properly  or  how  to  discover  the  causes  of  these  irregu- 
larities 

3 — Great  differences  exist  in  per  capita  expenses 

a — Ashland  county,  out  of  every  $100  for  education  paid  in 
1910-1911,  $4.83  for  salaries  to  the  school  board  and  $56.90 
for  teachers'  salaries.  Winnebago  county  paid  45  cents  to 
the  school  board  and  $64.60  for  teachers'  salaries.  Eight 
counties,  of  which  Manitowoc  leads  with  87.1%,  pay  more 
than  70%  of  their  total  school  expenditures  for  teaching; 
9  counties,  of  which  Sawyer  with  32.1%  is  the  last,  pay 
less  than  55%.  For  apparatus,  school  furniture  and  "all 
other  purposes"  not  itemized,  Sawyer  county  in  1910-1911 
paid  $21.62  per  school  child;  Forest  county  $13.68;  Wai- 
worth  county  $13.10;  Washburn  county  $4.45;  Barron 
$3.77 ;  Wood  county  $1.99 

b — No  evidence  has  been  found  that  the  state  or  county  super- 
intendents have  ever  tried  to  learn  why  the  expenditures 
under  "cost  of  equipment"  and  "other  purposes"  is  so  much 
higher  in  some  counties  than  in  others 

c — The  analysis  of  financial  reports  indicates  that  public  m'oney 
has  been  wasted  either  in  collecting  and  printing  inaccur- 
ate and  worthless  accounts,  or  else  in  extravagant  expendi- 
tures in  some  counties  and  utterly  inadequate  expenditure 
in  others 

4 — Investigation  of  district  accounts  reveals  numerous  short- 
comings 

To  ascertain  whether  an  audit  of  school  accounts  would  be 
advisable  a  study  was  m'ade  of  the  school  clerks'  and  treasurers' 
accounts  in  60  districts  scattered  throughout  eight  counties. 
No  discrimination  was  made  in  the  selection  of  individual  dis- 
tricts except  that  suspicion"  pointed  to  the  first  county  visited. 
Conditions  found  in  an  examination  of  accounts  for  the  school 
years  1910-1911  or  1911-1912  are  here  summarized 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Sc-h<'wlx  in    \Vixc.onsin.     15 

a — In  only  50%  of  the  districts  was  any  trace  found  of  an  ex- 
amination of  the  records  of  the  treasurer  by  the  whole 
board  or  by  a  committee  appointed  at  the  annual  meeting 

b — Where  an  audit  was  attempted,  the  auditing  committee  would 
invariably  report  the  books  as  correct 

(1)  One  such  auditing  committee,  including  one  auditor 
who  could  not  sign  his  name,  hence  "made  his 
mark"  (X),  found  that  $895.94-f $40-f$347.41 
totaled  $1460.12.  After  the  shortage  was  estab- 
lished tjhe  treasurer  was  sent  for.  He  reluctantly 
admitted  that  possibly  he  was  $40  short.  Grad- 
ually he  saw  his  shortage  increase,  although  he 
protested  vehemently  and  tearfully  that  he  was  a 
perfectly  honest  man  and  the  shortage  was  due  to 
errors.  When  confronted  with  evidence  that  he 
had  unlawfully  appropriated  $176.77  belonging  to 
the  district  he  promised  to  make  the  district  a  pres- 
ent of  this  amount 

'  (2)  In  one  district  where  the  investigator  found  an  unus- 
ual number  of  irregularities,  the  town  clerk  and 
district  attorney  had  made  an  audit  of  the  books 
and  reported  them  "correct  except  for  a  slight 
error/7  The  nature  of  the  error  was  not  stated, 
but  a  fee  of  $140  (of  doubtful  legality)  had  been 
accepted  by  the  auditors 

c — Financial  irregularities  overlooked  by  local  audit  and  not 
noted  by  county  or  state  superintendents  were  of  many 
types 

(1)  Two  schools  in  one  township  were  held  in  private 
homes.  In  both  cases  the  schools  were  attended  by 
one  family  only.  In  each  case  the  school,  board 
paid  to  the  owner  of  the  house 

$12  a  month  rent  for  room  to  school  his  own 

children 
$5  a  month  fuel  for  heating  this  room  in  his 

own  house 
$5  a  month  janitor  fee  for  cleaning  this  same 

room 

In  addition  the  family  received  $16  a  month  for 
boarding  the  teacher.    In  one  case  the  schoolroom 


16     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

was  in  an  attic  but  clean  and  tidy.  The  teacher 
used  it  as  a  sleeping  room.  But  one  pupil  was 
enrolled.  In  the  other  case  two  pupils  were  en- 
rolled. The  schoolroom  was  in  a  log  house  which 
was  absolutely  filthy,  dark,  dingy,  unkept  and 
hardly  fit  for  stable  purposes.  The  room  while 
used  for  school  purposes  was  used  by  the  family 
as  if  no  school  was  there.  The  school  officers  de- 
sired to  transport  these  children  nine  miles  to  the 
village  school  or  pay  for  their  board  while  attending 
school  in  town.  The  state  gives  $50  a  year  state 
aid  to  any  district  which  thus  transports  its  chil- 
dren to  a  graded  school  of  at  least  two  rooms 

(2)  In  the  books  of  a  village  with  a  4  room  school  en- 

rolling 50  pupils  the  auditor  found  the  following- 
expenditures 

1  striking  bag . .  .$8.00 

3  pairs  boxing  gloves 21.00 

1  wrestling  mat 140.00 

When  the  secretary  was  asked  to  explain  the  reason 
for  these  purchases  he  said  they  were  for  the  gym- 
nasium. Previous  investigation  had  brought  out 
the  fact  that  during  January,  1912,  a  professional 
wrestler  had  come  to  town  and  had  given  several 
exhibitions  in  the  school  gymnasium.  The  secre- 
tary of  the  school  board,  the  principal  of  the  school 
and  the  druggist  who  sold  these  supplies  to  the 
school  board  were  pupils  of  this  wrestler  and  fre- 
quently engaged  in  wrestling  matches  with  the 
professional.  The  mats  the  school  owned  were 
small.  The  $140  wrestling  mat  was  bought  at  the 
time  these  men  were  having  their  bouts,  and  while 
it  cannot  be  proven,  it  does  seem  evident  that  it 
was  bought  to  avoid  the  skinned  elbows  resulting 
from  not  having  a  large  mat  upon  which  to  wres- 
tle. The  school  district  is  greatly  in  debt  at  this 
very  time,  having  paid  $389.17  in  interest  during 
the  year 

(3)  In  one  district  under  the  township  system  a  school- 

house  of  the  usual  type  was  built.  The  auditor 
found  that  unusually  large  sums  had  been  paid 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     17 

for  materials,  lumber,  etc.  The  total  sum  paid  for 
these  and  designated  "for  the  new  school"  was 
$4,000.  The  board  members  when  asked  the  cost 
of  this  building,  were  unable  to  tell,  saying  that 
it  was  built  by  day  labor.  Asked  to  approximate 
the  cost  their  estimates  varied  from  $600  to  $1,000, 
a  lumber  dealer  who  knew  the  building  and  from 
whom  a  part  of  the  lumber  had  been  bought,  stated 
that  $400  was  a  fair  allowance  for  materials.  A 
board  member  when  asked  why  his  board  did  not 
advertise  for  bids  and  contracts  for  the  building* 
of  the  schoolhouse  stated  they  wished  to  give  the 
people  of  the  district  a  chance  ''to  make  some- 
thing." However,  most  of  the  money  expended 
for  labor  was  paid  to  district  officials 

(4)  In  one  district  township  system  it  was  found  that 

two  teachers  had  been  given  11  orders  of  $45  each. 
The  records  showed  that  they  had  been  engaged 
for  nine  months  work.  The  two  extra  orders  were 
shown  by  bills  to  be  for  "extra  work."  It  was 
possible  to  interview  but  one  of  these  teachers,  the 
other  one  not  being  at  home.  The  one  seen  claimed 
that  the  board  during  the  year  had  increased  her 
salary  to  $55  so  that  eleven  payments  of  $45  would 
just  "make  it".  The  minutes  of  the  board  did 
not  show  this,  and  school  board  members  denied  it. 
The  clerk  explained  that  this  teacher  had  a  very 
hard  school,  that  she  was  lonely,  and  taken  all  in 
all  he  thought  she  was  entitled  to  one  extra  order 
of  $45.  "When  asked  why  he  issued  two  extra  or- 
ders of  $45  he  denied  having  done  so.  "When  con- 
fronted by  the  cancelled  orders  signed  by  him  he 
collapsed  and  said,  "Well,  I  didn't  know  I  did 
that.  I  sure  made  a  mistake."  This  teacher  was 
the  sister  of  the  clerk's  wife.  He  had  no  explan- 
ation whatever  for  issuing  the  eleven  orders  to  the 
other  teacher.  The  clerk  admitted  that  neither  one 
had  done  any  "extra  work" 

(5)  While  auditing  the  records  of  one  school  with  52 

pupils,  the  investigator  found  that  the  wife  of  the 


18     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Runtl  Xdntoh  hi   Wisconsin. 

secretary  of  the  school  board  was  receiving  consid- 
erable sums  of  money  for  services  rendered: 
$30.00  for  ''labeling  books",  1908-1909 
$80.00  for  "clerical  work,"  1909-1910 
$82.00  for  " clerical  work",  1910-1911 
A   personal    investigation   showed   that   "labeling 
books"  consisted  of  pasting  gummed  labels  into 
I  he    hooks.     Then-   were   hut,   'KJO  books  in   the  li- 
brary.    Th<>    board    paid  $20.00   to  a  teacher  for 
' '  cataloguing  books ' '.    In  every  other  district  teach- 
ers did  this  work  without  extra  compensation.     It 
was  impossible  to  get  any  information  from  either 
the  secretary  or  his  wife  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
"clerical  work"  for  which  she  was  paid.     During 
I  his   time  the   secretary   was  not  only  receiving  a 
regular  salary  of  $75  per  year  but  charged  $3  for 
every  meeting  attended  and  $3  for-  each  visit  to  a 
school 

(6)  In  one  district  a  school  board  having  five  schools  in 

a  township  under  its  control  had  within  two  years 
purchased  seven  organs 

(a)  Five  old  and  two  new 

(b)  At  prices  from  $30  to  $100 

(c)  One  of  the  new  organs  costing  $100  had  not 

been  removed  from'  the  dealer's  home  in 
June,  although  purchased  the  previous 
September;  one  was  stored  in  the  town 
hall;  one  was  stored  in  the  village  school 
and  unused  for  the  reason  that  the  school 
owned  a  piano ;  the  other  organs  were 
distributed  among  rural  schools.  The  old 
organs  were  poor  and  out  of  repair,  al- 
though the  board  had  paid  a  total  of  $10 
for  repairs  on  them 

(7)  One  treasurer  refused   to  give  up  his  records,  stat- 

ing in  a  letter  that  "they  were  crooked".  Finally 
the  books  were  brought  in.  The  auditor  found 
the  records  in  the  worst  possible  shape.  It  was 
impossible  to  strike  a  balance,  the  records  failing 
to  show  either  dates  when  moneys  were  received  or 
dates  when  moneys  were  paid  out.  On  one  page 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  ,SY//w/.v  ///    Wisconsin.     19 

of  his  record  of  disbursements  lie  charged  the  same 
order  twice  in  eight  cases.  The  following  show 
the  amounts  thus  duplicated:  $3.65,  $10.00,  $3.00, 
$11.50,  $3.20,  $15.00,  $2.75,  $2.00 

d — In  every  dixlric-1  investigated  except  one,  the  annual  financial 
statements  by  district  clerks  as  reported  to  the  county 
superintendents  tr<r<  found  l<>  b<  incorrect.  When  orders 
are  issued  the  clerk  makes  no  effort  to  show  the  purpose 
for  which  they  are  drawn.  When  the  time  comes  for  the 
annual  statement,  he  has  nothing  but  a  record  of  the  lump 
sum  of  money  expended  during  the  year 

(1)  For  no  two  places  were  the  form's  and  records  uni- 

form. In  most  places  the  following  records  were 
kept  by  the  clerk:  minute  book,  cancellation  rec- 
ord and  stubs  of  orders  issued 

(2)  In  several  places  the  records  were  not  kept  up-to- 

date  and  in  one  district  the  clerk  had  for  two 
years  kept  no  record  other  than  the  stubs  of  orders 
issued 

e — The  present  loose  system  places  no  restraint  upon  a  clerk 
or  treasurer  who  is  inclined  to  be  crooked.  Knowing  that 
his  books  will  never  be  audited  by  anyone  who  is  com- 
petent to  do  so,  he  can  handle  the  school  orders  as  he 
pleases 

(1)  One  treasurer  admitted  that  he  had  bought  up  all 

orders  when  the  town  was  short  of  funds,  and 
charged  a  lump  sum,  including  interest  at  7%.  It 
was  impossible  to  verify  the  correctness  of  the  in- 
terest, as  the  length  of  time  the  orders  were  held 
by  him  was  not  shown 

(2)  One  bank  charged  $397  interest  for  one  year  and 

another  $47.98  and  did  not  itemize  dates  nor  orders 

(3)  Orders  were  ''raised"  so  crudely  in  one  district  that 

anyone  could  detect  that  the  original  sum  had 
been  scratched  out  and  another  written  in,  yet  the 
treasurer  paid  them  at  the  higher  amount 

(4)  In  four  districts  the  treasurers  charged  the  board 

twice  for  thirteen  orders  amounting  to  $109.99,  not 
including  the  eight  duplications  of  payment  which 


Conditions  and  N&eds  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

were  found  on  one  sheet  of  one  treasurer's  record 
of  disbursements,  as  shown  above 

(5)  A  certain  treasurer  received  $450  "for  paying  over 
money  while  treasurer".  In  conversation  with 
him'  he  made  the  following  explanation :  * '  You  see 
when  I  became  treasurer  I  received  a  certain 
amount  of  money  from  my  predecessor.  After- 
wards bills  for  work  done  before  I  took  the  office 
came  in  and  I  paid  them.  These  totaled  $450. 
I  didn't  think  anything  about  it  at  the  time  but 
later  I  got  to  thinking  about  it  and  saw  that  those 
bills  had  to  be  paid  out  of  my  pocket  as  they  were 
incurred  before  I  becam'e  treasurer.  The  other 
officers  thought  so  too  and  we  had  legal  advice  on 
it,  so  the  board  allowed  me  the  $450."  An  audit 
of  the  books  showed  that  this  treasurer  had  charged 
the  district  and  credited  himself  with  every  order 
issued  by  the  clerk  except  two,  amounting  to  $8, 
including  not  only  those  issued  during  the  treas- 
urer's term  of  office  but  also  those  issued  before 
he  was  elected  and  which  had  not  been  paid  by 
the  former  treasurer.  The  predecessor  of  this 
treasurer,  a  brother-in-law,  was  $196.40  short  in 
his  accounts  and  was  forced  to  make  good,  the 
shortage  having  been  shown  up  by  a  local  audit- 
ing committee  a  few  m'onths  after  his  term  of 
office  had  expired 

(6)  In  another  district  the  treasurer  had  charged  $20 

without  showing  a  corresponding  order  or  reason 
for  the  charge 

(7)  In  two  districts  the  treasurer's  records  did  not  show 

the  proper  balances,  on  hand  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1910-1911,  and  they  were  short  in  their  ac- 
counts, $171 .95,  and  $336.77,  respectively.  In  both 
places  the  treasurers  admitted  the  shortage  and 
offered  to  make  the  school  board  "a  present"  of 
the  amount  short 

(8)  The   treasurer's  records  vary  as  widely  as  do  the 

clerk's 

(9)  In  but  eight  districts  was  it  found  possible  from  the 

books  alone  to  strike  a  balance  for  any  fiscal  year 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     21 

(10)  The  treasurers  in.  entering  paid  school  orders  under 

"disbursements",  invariably  use  the  dates  on  which 
the  orders  were  issued  by  the  clerks,  instead  of 
the  dates  when  paid.  It  was  therefore  impossible, 
when,  the  balance  could  not  be  obtained  from  the 
books  directly,  to  get  a  book  balance  for  any  fiscal 
year,  except  in  the  few  cases  where  the  paid  school 
orders  were  preserved  and  dates  of  payment 
stamped  on  them.  In  many  cases  the  orders  had 
not  been  marked  "cancelled"  or  "paid" 

(11)  In    eight    districts    bills    were    paid    for    different 

amounts  from  those  stated  on  the  clerk's  order. 
In  one  district  an  overpayment  of  $27.53  had  been 
made  on  ten  orders 

(12)   In  seven  districts  records  did  not  show  any  dates  for 
money  paid  out 

(13)  In  two  districts  the  records  did  not  show  that  any 

money  had  been  received 

(14)  In  12    districts  bills  were  paid   for  contract  work 

when  no  records  of  contracts  could  be  found  in 
the  minutes 

(15)  In  one  district,  a  treasurer  who  served  both  as  town 

and  school  treasurer,  charged  2%  for  distributing 
to  the  other  treasurers  school  money  received  both 
from  the  county  and  from  the  state 

(16)  In  nine  districts  money  was  paid  although  no  bills 

had  been  presented 

(17)  In  one  district  teachers  were  compelled  to  pay  to 
storekeepers  10%  for  cashing  salary  checks,  as  the 
school  treasury  had  no  funds 

(18)  In  one  district  the  school  was  discontinued  and  yet 

the  board  continued  for  two  years  to  levy  and  col- 
lect school  taxes 

(19)  One  treasurer  reported  that  he  had  not  received  the 

$50  state  aid  due  the  districts  for  school  year 
1909-1910,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  proper  re- 
port had  not  been  made  to  the  state  department  of 
public  instruction.  After  school  election,  the  new 
clerk  wrote  to  the  state  superintendent  and  found 
out  that  the  money  had  been  sent  to  the  treasurer, 
and  that  his  endorsement  was  on  the  back  of  the 


22     Conditions  and  A'm/x  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

cancelled  check.  Confronted  by  this  statement 
from  the  state  superintendent  he  confessed  that  he 
had  received  the  money  and  gave  the  clerk  an 
order  on  his  employers  for  the  amount,  $50 

f — Boards  as  such  participated  in  errors 

(1)   In   26   districts   the   boards   allowed   bills   which   had 
neither  been  itemized  nor  audited  according  to  law 

(2)  In  13  districts  records  do  not  show  that  an  annual 

settlement  was  made  between  the  treasurer  and  the 
board 

(3)  In  three  districts  bills  were  paid  on  which  the  amount 

of  the  indebtedness  was  not  stated;  the  sum  ap- 
pearing in  the  cancellation  record  only 

(4)  In    17    districts    the    board    members    made    illegal 

charges  for  taking  the  school  census 

(5)  In    six    districts   the    board   members   made   illegal 

charges  for  posting  notices  of  school  meetings 

(6)  In  two  districts  the  board  m'embers  charged  for  liv- 

ery hire  to  attend  meetings  when  they  used  their 
own  horses 

(7)  In  17  districts  the  board  allowed  themselves  higher 

compensation  than  the  law  prescribes  although  sal- 
aries had  not  been  Voted  upon  at  any  annual  meet- 
ing 

(8)  In  four  districts  board  members  received  compensa- 

tion for  attending  board  meetings  that  were  never 
held  or  meetings  when  the  minutes  show  that  they 
were  not  present 

(9)  In  four  districts  members  charged  from  $2  to  $4  for 

attending  school  board  meetings  besides  receiving 
a  regular  salary 

(10)  In   four   districts   the   board   members   charged  for 

visiting  schools 

(11)  In  1905  a  certain  school  board  bought  from  its  presi- 

dent a  one-acre  school  site  at  a  cost  of  $375.  The 
plot  was  a  p3rt  of  the  board  member's  homestead, 
partly  cleared  and  located  seven  miles  from  a 
village  in  a  newly  settled  country.  The  price 
of  stump  land  in  that  section  at  the  present  time 
is  from  $5  to  $15  per  acre.  (In  1905  it  could 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     23 

not  have  been  more.)  At  the  time  of  the  sale, 
this  property  was  government  land  as  the  board 
president  had  not  proved  up  on  it.  This  record 
was  obtained  from  the  land  office.  The  school 
board  paid  for  digging  a  well  on  this  school  site. 
None  was  dug  there;  but  on  the  home  lot  of  the 
board  president,  and  within  400  feet  of  the  school- 
house,  a  well  was  sunk  at  the  time  when  the  board 
paid  the  bill  for  a  well  on  the  school  site.  The 
seller  still  retains  the  land 

(12)  In  18  districts  board  members  contracted  with  them- 

selves, a  proceeding  which  the  law  prohibits 

(13)  In  the  purchase  of  wood  for  school  use  one  board 

paid  $1.75  to  $2.50  a  cord  when  purchased  from 
individuals  not  connected  with  the  board.  In  not 
a.  single  ease  where  wood  was  bought  of  board 
members,  their  relatives  or  business  associates,  did 
the  board  pay  less  than  $4  per  cord.  One  pur- 
chase, amounting  to  50  cords,  was  purchased  from 
the  son  of  the  board  president.  It  was  not  cus- 
tomary for  the  board  to  measure  wood  when  de- 
livered 

(14)  In  one  district  it  was  customary  for  school  board 

members  on  their  trips  to  the  neighboring  town 
to  bring  back  supplies  for  their  schools,  and  charge 
expense  of  trip  to  the  school  board.  In  one  case 
the  county  superintendent  assured  the  investigator 
that  a  school  board  member  after  spending  a  whole 
day  in  a  town  and  becoming  intoxicated,  charged 
and  actually  received  $4.50  drayage  for  taking  to 
his  school  a  box  of  crayons.  During  1910-1911 
the  school  board  paid  $13.50  for  drayage  in  de- 
livering supplies  to  schools 

(15)  In  one  district  a  school  clerk  was  appointed  by  the 

board  at  $3  a  day  to  supervise  the  construction  of 
a  school  building,  receiving  $409  compensation  for 
this  work.  During  the  period  when  the  schoolhouse 
was  being  built  this  m'an  was  busily  engaged  as  a 
lumber  sealer  and  was  also  town  clerk.  Further- 
more, he  was  not  a  builder  or  contractor  and  was 
not  qualified  to  supervise  the  construction  of  a 


24     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

building.  The  board  in  fact  had  already  engaged 
a  head  carpenter  for  this  purpose  at  a  salary  of 
$4.50  a  day 

(16)  On  June  11,  1910  a  school  board  contracted  for  the 

digging  of  a  basement  for  a  school  building.  $200 
was  the  contract  price.  Immediately  after  award- 
ing the  contract  the  board  appointed  themselves  a 
committee  of  three  to  supervise  the  work.  The 
three  board  members  received  $120  in  payment  for 
supervising  the  $200  job. 

(17)  In  one  district  $20.25  was  paid  to  a  notary  for 

swearing  to  affidavits  of  accounts,  the  district  pay- 
ing for  this  service  at  25  cents  per  bill 

g — In  two  districts  only  was  it  found  that  the  county  superin- 
tendents had  assisted  the  school  boards  in  disentangling 
their  accounts  • 

h — Almost  universally  the  officers  were  eager  to  be  instructed 
in  proper  methods  of  keeping  accounts,  one  clerk  travel- 
ing 28  miles  to  have  his  books  straightened  out 

i — In  many  cases  the  treasurer  desired  a  competent  audit  of  his 
accounts  in  order  that  the  people  might  be  satisfied  as  to 
their  correctness 

5 — The  census  of  children  of  school  age  upon  which  the  dis- 
tribution of  state  school  moneys  is  made,  has  been  found 
very  inaccurate  due  to  duplication  and  error  invited  by 
the  complicated  method  of  reporting  children  to  town 
clerks 

a — Some  counties  are  deprived  of  their  just  share  of  the  state 
appropriation  and  others  are  receiving  too  much 

b — The   number   of  children   reported  is  usually   excessive  in 
towns  where  there  are  many  joint  districts 
(1)   One  county  reported  on  June  30,  1911,  8,304  chil- 
dren of  school  age;  a  recount  of  the  census  lists 
showed  only  7,790.     The  clerk  had  reported  514 
children  too  many.     At  the  present  rate  of  appro- 
priation the  county  received  $1,379.00  too  much. 
In   the  districts  of  this   county  which  were  not 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     25 

joined  with  other  districts,  the  clerk  reported  4,292 
children,  3  too  many,  for  the  recount  showed  4,289. 
The  excess  in  the  clerk's  figures  is  almost  ex- 
clusively in  the  joint  districts 

(2)  In  another  county  the  clerk  reported  6,778  children, 

the  recount  showed  6,986  or  an  excess  of  108 

(3)  In   7   counties   examined   the   clerks   reported   1,932 

more  children  than  found  in  the  recount.  In  ad- 
dition the  recount  found  112  children  20  years  of 
age  and  130  whose  ages  were  not  stated 

(4)  The  excessive  number  of  children  reported  lowers 

the  proportion  of  the  state  apportionment  coming 
to  each  child  and  the  counties  reporting  accurate 
figures  receive,  therefore,  a  smaller  share  than 
they  are  entitled  to  and  would  receive,  if  the 
other  counties  were  accurate 

-In  reporting  the  number  of  children  of  compulsory  school 
age,  seven  years  and  less  than  fourteen,  even  greater  in- 
accuracies have  been  found.  In  the  two  counties  men- 
tioned, the  clerk  reports  in  the  first,  713  and  in  the  second 
362  too  few 


PART  III 


Sanitary  and  Educational  Conditions  of  Rural 

Schools 


1 — Lighting  of  school  buildings 

£ — Only  three  one-room  schools  out  of  110  visited  and  reported 
on  for  lighting  were  lighted  from  one  side  only 

b — Only  two  of  these  had  sufficient  lighting  area  in  propor- 
tion to  floor  area;  1.5 

c — 98  schoolrooms  were  lighted  from  the  two  opposite  sides, 
compelling  the  children  on  one  side  of  the  schoolroom  to 
work  in  a  major  light  coming  over  the  right  shoulder 

d — In  only  19  of  these  rooms  was  the  ratio  of  lighting  space  to 
floor  space  adequate 

e — 14  schoolrooms  were  lighted  from  three  sides,  thus  submit- 
ting the  children  to  trying  cross  lights  and  in  some  cases 
compelling  them  to  face  the  light 

f — One  schoolroom  was  lighted  from  all  four  sides.  Yet  even 
in  this  room  the  ratio  of  lighting  area  to  floor  area  was 
only  1.6,  the  permissible  minimum  being  1.5 

g — In  many  buildings  the  conditions  were  aggravated  by  im- 
proper curtaining  of  the  windows.  Nowhere  were  trans- 
lucent curtains  (in  addition  to  the  regular  opaque  or  semi- 
opaque  curtains)  which  would  soften  the  direct  rays  of 
the  sun  while  admitting  sufficient  light  for  school  pur- 
poses 

h — The  tinting  and  painting  of  most  schoolrooms  had  evidently 
been  done  without  any  reference  to  the  principles  of  good 
lighting 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  School*  in  Wisconsin.     27 

i — Even  in  the  most  recently  constructed  buildings  the  most 
common  canons  of  correct  lighting  have  frequently  been 
violated 

j — With  hardly  an  exception  the  windows  stopped  short  of  the 
ceiling  by  1  to  3  feet,  leading  to  a  loss  of  reflected  light 
from  the  ceiling 

k — In  all  but  3  buildings  the  windows  were  too  widely  separ- 
ated, thus  causing  bars  of  half  light  in  the  schoolrooms 

1 — In  many  room's  the  ceilings  and  walls  were  dingy  and  painted 
a  dark  color 

m — No  district  had  the  following  minimum  essentials  which 
every  district  ought  to  have : 

(1)  Windows  011  one  side  or  on  two  adjacent 

sides  only  with  the  major  light  coming 
over  the  ld'1  shoulders  of  the  pupils 

(2)  Windows    properly    curtained    with    both 

opaque  and  translucent  shades 

(3)  Windows  running  practically  to  the  ceiling 

(4)  Narrowest  piers  possible  between  windows — 

not  over  15  inches 

(5)  White  ceilings 

(6)  Walls   tinted   a   soft  light   green  or   gray> 

restful  to  the  eye  and  nerves  and  having 
high  reflecting  quality 

2 — Heating  of  school  buildings 

a — Of  the  106  schools  inspected  as  to  heating  conditions 
(1)   8  were  heated  by  furnace 
02)   69  "         "       "  jacketed  stoves 
(3)   29  "         "       "  unjacketed  stoves 

b — As  a  rule  the  school  buildings  were  well  heated,  but  par- 
ticularly on  cold  days  unjaeketed  stoves  did  not  heat  suf- 
ficiently the  far  corners  of  the  room,  while  the  temperature 
of  the  air  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  stove  was  tropi- 
cal 


28     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

c — On  account  of  the  general  absence  of  thermometers  and  lack 
of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  teachers,  overheating  is  prev- 
alent in  mild  and  ordinary  weather  in  winter 

d — As  a  rule  wood  was  used  in  these  stoves.  It  was 
usually  kept  under  cover  and  provided  in  sufficient  quan- 
tity, but  ten  schools  were  found  where  the  supply  was  only 
<-i  day  01-  hvo  ahead  of  the  demand  and  where  it  was  liable 
1o  become  \va1er-soaked.  In  four  schools  great  difficulty 
was  experienced  in  keeping  the  fires  going 

e — The  large  number  of  jacketed  stoves  is  undoubtedly  due  to 
the  $50  a  year  subvention  for  three  years  to  schools  put- 
ting in  jacketed  stoves  and  fulfilling  certain  other  require- 
ments 

f — In  some  cases  parents  complained  that  children  could  not 
warm'  their  hands  at  the  jacketed  stoves.  In  one  case  the 
jacket  was  removed  for- this  reason  after  the  whole  $150 
had  been  collected;  but  one  month's  trial  of  the  old  condi- 
tions was  sufficient  to  make  everyone  willing  to  restore  the 
jacket 

3 — Ventilation  of  school  buildings 

a — Of  106  schools  8  were  ventilated  by  the  gravity  system  in 
connection  with  a  hot  air  furnace ;  69  had  jacketed  stove 
ventilation  and  29  could  be  ventilated  by  the  windows  and 
doors  only 

b — These  figures  indicate  a  condition  better  than  was  actually 
found,  as  in  11  schools  the  pure  air  intake  was  closed; 
in  8  the  foul  air  damper  was  closed,  and  in  3  both  were 
closed 

c — In  15  schools  visited  either  the  windows  or  storm  windows 
could  not  be  raised ^qr  were  not  provided  with  openings 

d — Where  the  jacketed  stove  system  had  been  installed   and 
where  the  ventilation  devices  were  really  used  the  result 
•    was  excellent.     There  is,   however,   among  both   teachers 
and  pupils  a  lack  of  knowledge  about  m'atters  of  ventila- 
tion which  gives  the  appearance  of  indifference 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     29 

e — Many  teachers  did  not  understand  how  the  jacketed  stove 
ventilation  in  their  schools  worked.  Apparently,  none 
had  conceived  the  idea  that  the  jacketed  stove  is  an  ex- 
cellent piece  of  practical  physical  apparatus  which  could 
be  made  of  the  greatest  interest  to  pupils.  It  was  evi- 
dently a  new  experience  to  the  pupils  when  they  saw  the 
paper,  held  below  the  foul  air  vent  by  the  investigator, 
whirled  up  the  flue  to  the  outside  air 

f — No  school  was  found  with  all  of  the  following  minimum  es- 
sentials of  ventilation,  i.  e.,  where 

(1)  The  teacher  understood  the  elementary  principles  of 

ventilation  and  knew  how  good  ventilation  might 
be  obtained  in  the  schoolroom  and  in  their  own 
homes 

(2)  The  boys  and  girls  understood  the  value  of  good  ven- 

tilation and  knew  how  good  ventilation  might  be 
obtained  in  the  schoolroom  and  in  their  own  homes 

(3)  The  parents  of  boys  and  girls  attending  school  were 

alive  to  the  importance  of  good  ventilation 

(4)  The  school  was  furnished  with  a  good  furnace  or 

jacketed  stove  ventilation 

(5)  Such  apparatus  was  used  to  the  best  advantage 

(6)  Windows  were   opened   at   recess,   at  noon   and  at 

periods  of  exercise 

(7)  Windows  were  provided  with  boards  to  direct  the  in- 

coming air  upwards  so  as  to  protect  children  from 
direct  draughts 

4 — Care  of  school  buildings 

a. — Of  131  schools  inspected  for  this  fact  the  floors  were  scrubbed 

(1)  once  a- year  in  35 

(2)  twice  a  year  in  27 

(3)  four  times  a  year  in  25 

(4)  once  a  month  in  30 

(5)  never  in  3 

(6)  nobody  knew  when  in  11 

b — The  scrubbing  was  done  by 

(1)  the  janitor  in  18  schools 

(2)  hired  help  in  94 


30     Conditions  and^  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

(3)  the  teacher  in  7 

(4)  in  12  schools  the  information  was  not  available 

c — Only  30  rural  schools,  where  the  floors  were  not  treated 
wilh  non-drying  floor  dressing,  were  scrubbed  'once  a 
month — the  minimum  essential 

d — No  rural  school  where  the  floors  were  treated  with  non- 
drying  floor  dressing  received  the  minimum  essential  of 
two  applications  of  the  dressing  each  year,  after  thorough 
scrubbing  with  hot  water  containing  alkali  in  solution 

e — The  floors  were  swept 

(1)  daily  in  106  schools 

(2)  three  times  a  week  in  14  schools 

(3)  weekly  in  one  school 

f — The  sweeping  was  done  by 

(1)  the  teacher  in  83  schools 

(2)  the  janitor  in  27  schools 

(3)  hired  help  in  10  schools 

g — Only  ten  of  94  teachers  questioned  said  that  they  received 
extra  pay  for  sweeping  their  classrooms 

h — Only  8  floors  out  of  131  inspected  were  treated  with  non- 
drying  oil 

i — A  sweeping  compound  or  treated  sawdust  was  used  in  sweep- 
ing 27  buildings  out  of  131  inspected 

j — The  dust  conditions  in  most  schools  were  bad  and  in  som'e 
very  bad.  Matters  were  made  worse  in  some  cases  by  the 
use  of  soft  crayons  on  the  blackboards 

k — Dusting  was-  done 

(1)  daily  in  96  schools 

(2)  three  times  a^week  in  16  schools 

(3)  weekly  in  5  schools 

(4)  never  in  one  school 

(5)  at  times  unknown  in  13 

(6)  with  turkey  duster  in  one  school 

(7)  with  a  treated  yarn  duster  in  one  school 

(8)  with  cloths  or  untreated  yarn  dusters  in  4  schools 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     31 


5 — Water-closets 

a — Out  of  131   schools  inspected   water-closets  were   scrubbed 

(1)  in  66  schools  once  a  year 

(2)  in  13  schools  twice  a  year 

(3)  in  29  schools  never 

(4)  in  23  schools  nobody  knew  when  they  were  cleaned 

b — No  proof  was  discovered  in  a  single  case  that  the  closets 
were  thoroughly  cleaned  out  underneath  at  any  time 

c — The  water-closets  were  inspected 

(1)  weekly  in  85  schools 

(2)  monthly  in  22  schools 

(3)  semi-annually  in  3  schools 

(4)  never  in  8  schools 

(5)  it  was  impossible  to  learn  when  the  rest  were  in- 

spected 

d — The  inspection  is  often  perfunctory.  Indescribable  condi- 
tions were  found  in  some  cases  where  frequent  inspection 
was  alleged 

e — Out  of  106  cases  where  measurements  were  made  the  dis- 
tance of  the  water-closets  from  the  school  buildings  was 

(1)  under  20  feet  in  13  cases 

(2)  from  20  to  30  feet  in  23  cases 

(3)  from  30  to  40  feet  in  17  cases 

(4)  over  40  feet  in  49  cases 

f — Out  of  106  cases  where  measurements  were  made  the  water- 
closets  for  boys  and  girls  were 

(1)  under  the  same  roof  in  five  cases 

(2)  under  10  feet  apart  in  1  case 

(3)  from  10  to  20  feet  apart  in  5  cases 

(4)  from  20  to  30  feet  apart  in  25  cases 

(5)  over  30  feet  apart  in  65  cases 

g — Out  of  121  inspected,  water-closets  were 

(1)  screened  in  89  cases 

(2)  unscreened  in  32  cases 


32     Conditions  and  N&eds  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

h — In  many  cases  the  screens  were  a  mere  pretense  intended 
only  to  comply  with  the  letter  of  the  law;  they  were  too 
low  or  made  of  lattice  work  with  large  spaces 

i — In  some  cases  the  county  superintendent  admitted  that  he 
knew  the  law  was  being  violated,  without  taking  any  ef- 
fective steps  to  remedy  the  condition 

j — No  rural  schools  were  found  which  conformed  to  all  the  fol- 
lowing minimum  requirements,  i.  e.,  where 

(1)  the  water-closets  were  scrubbed  once  a  month 

(2)  the  water-closets  were  cleaned  out  thoroughly  under- 

neath twice  a  year 

(3)  the  water-closets  were  inspected  once  a  day  by.  the 

teacher  and  once  a  week  by  a  school  officer 

(4)  the  water-closets  were  30  feet  apart 

(5)  the  water-closets  were  30  feet  from  the  school  build- 

ing 

(6)  the  water-closets  were  thoroughly  screened 

6 — Care  of  grounds 

a — The  grounds  are  cleaned 

(1)  annually  in  102  schools 

(2)  semi-annually  in  8  schools 

(3)  never  in  8  schools 

(4)  at  times  unknown  in  13  schools 

h — In  most  cases  the  cleaning  is  very  perfunctory,  being  some- 
times limited  to  cutting  the  grass  before  school  opens  in 
the  fall 

7 — The  common  drinking  cup 

a — Individual  drinking  cups  were  found  in  84  schools 
b — The  common  drinking  cup  was  still  used  in  33  schools 

c — One  county  superintendent  asserted  that  there  was  no  school 
in  his  district  where  the  common  drinking  cup  was  in 
use,  but  four  such  schools  were  found  within  ten  miles  of 
his  office  and  all  within  his  district.  The  teachers  claim'ed 
to  have  notified  the  superintendent  of  the  fact 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     33 

cl — Of  the  84  schools  where  the  individual  drinking  cups  were 
in  use,  only  two  provided  dust  proof  cabinets  for  the 
cups.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  danger  of  infection 
was -not  decreased  by  the  use  of  the  individual  drinking 
cup  in  actual  practice 

e — In  only  two  rural  schools  were  found  these  minimum  re- 
quirements 

(1)  individual  drinking  cups 

(2)  dust  proof  cabinets  to  contain  them 


8 — Use  of  individual  pencils 

a — In  103  schools  children  either  bought  their  own  pencils  or 
were  supplied  with  individual  pencils 

T) — Pencils  were  ifsed  indiscriminately  in  14  schools 


9 — Use  of  slates 

— Out  of  131  rural  schools  inspected  the  slate  and  slate  pencil 
are  still  in  use  in  49 

— In  these  schools  sanitary  <•<  nditions  in  the  use  of  the  slate 
were  not  maintained 


10 — Age  of  school  buildings 

14  buildings  were  from     1  to  10  years  old 
b — 20  buildings  were  from  10  to  25  years  old 
•c — 25  buildings  were  from  10  to  25  years  old  and  over 
d— 24  buildings  were  very  old,  age  unknown 
e — 25  buildings  were  of  unknown  age 

f — In  southern  counties  old  school  buildings,  which  have  paid 
their  way  and  might  well  be  replaced  by  modern  struct- 
ures, are  numerous 


34     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in   Wisconsin. 

11 — Floor  area  of  school  buildings 

a — No  schoolroom  had  a  floor  area  of  less  than  250  square  feet 

b — 33  schoolrooms  had  a  floor  area  from  250  to  500  square 
feet 

c — 51  schoolrooms  had  a  floor  area  from  500  to  750  square- 
feet 

d — 22  schoolrooms  had  a  floor  area  of  more  than  750  square  feet 
or  over 

e — Every  rural  school  visited  had  sufficient  floor  space  for  the 
pupils  attending 

12 — Height  of  ceilings 

a — The  ceilings  of  15  buildings  were  found  to  be  less  than  9* 
feet  high  • 

b — The  ceilings  of  19  buildings  were  found  to  be  between  9  and 

10  feet  high 

c — The  ceilings  of  13  buildings  were  found  to  be  from  10  ta 

11  feet  high 

d — The  ceilings  of  55  buildings  were  11  feet  and  over 

e — Accepting  11  feet  as  the  minimum  permissible  schoolroom 
height  of  a  ceiling,  55  Wisconsin  schoolrooms  out  of  102 
measured  fell  below  the  standard 

13 — Vestibules  of  school  buildings 

a — Out  of  80  schools  visited  and  reported  on  for  these  facts 

(1)  43  schools  had  good  vestibules 

(2)  24  schools  had  poor  vestibules 

(3)  13  schools  had  no  vestibules  whatever 

b — Over  one-third  of  the  schools  had  no  proper  provision  for 
entries,  so  that  in  cold  weather  pupils  at  their  seats  were 
flooded  with  cold  air  whenever  a  pupil  arrived  late,  and 
often  when  the  doors  were  closed,  cold  currents  swept 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     35 

along  the  floor  from  the  cracks  under  the  doors,  chilling 
the  feet  of  all  the  pupils  for  hours  at  a  time 

14 — Closets  in  school  buildings 

a — Of  100  schools  inspected  as  to  closet  accommodation  65  had 
no  closets  whatever 

b — This  resulted  in  many  cases  in  giving  a  slovenly  appearance 
to  the  entry  or  corridor  and  the  schoolroom  itself  owing 
to  lack  of  a  proper  place  to  store  apparatus  and  supplies 
while  not  in  use 

15 — Style  of  school  architecture 

a — The  ordinary  chalk  box  style  of  school  architecture  prevails 

b — Except  in  rare  cases  where  the  building  is  kept  wrell  painted 
and  surrounded  by  shade  trees,  rural  school  buildings  have 
a  very  bare,  mean  and  unattractive  appearance 

c — This  general  disregard  of  aesthetic  consideration  in  original 
construction  finds  its  counterpart  in  the  neglected  condi- 
tion of  school  grounds  and  buildings,  and  in  the  lack  of 
pictures  and  decorations  within  the  buildings.  This  con- 
stitutes an  invitation  to  children  to  disfigure  school  walls, 
outbuildings  and  fences, — an  invitation  which  is  generally 
, accepted 

16 — Size  of  school  grounds 

a — Of  125  school  grounds  inspected  and  measured 

(1)  18  are  over  1  acre  in  area 

(2)  33  are  1  acre  in  area 

(3)  8  are  %  acre  in  area 

(4)  1  is  %  acre  in  area 

(5)  40  are  i/2  acre  in  area 

(6)  3  are  %  acre  in  area 

(7)  11  are  14  acre  in  area 

(8)  11  are  less  than  14  acre  in  area 


36     Conditions  and  Needs  <>f  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

b — Of  125  schools  inspected  as  many  as  11  had  grounds  so 
small  that  not  over  one-sixth  of  an  acre  was  available  for 
ihe  play  of  both  sexes,  rendering  educational  play  practi- 
cally impossible 

c — In  not  one  case  were  the  school  grounds  used  on  Saturday 
„         afternoons  as  a  play  center  for  the  youths  of  the  eom- 
m'unity  who  had  finished  school 

d — Only  one  school  had  any  playground  apparatus  whatever 

e — Not  one  rural  school  was  found  with  a  field  large  enough  for 
a  regulation  baseball  diamond  where  the  youths  of  the 
the  com'munity  could  play  on  Saturday  afternoons  and 
where  the  adults  of  the  community  could  gather  to  watch 
the  struggle  of  opposing  teams 

17 — Natural  suitability  of  school  sites 

a — Of  125  school  sites  examined 

(1)  62  were  suitable 

(2)  18  were  fair 

(3)  45  were  poor 

b— 62  rural  schools  out  of  125  reported  on  were  situated 

(1)  On  at  least  a  slight  elevation 

(2)  Where  the  soil  would  quickly  absorb  moisture 

(3)  Where  it  could  be  conveniently  reached  over  good 

roads  from  all  parts  of  the  district 

(4)  Where  extra  space  could  be  obtained  for  playground 

purposes 

c — Of  103  school  grounds  inspected  for  these  facts 

(1)  51  had  clay  soil 

(2)  8  had  clay  loam  soil 

(3)  8  had  loam  soil 

(4)  9  had  sandy  loam  soil 

(5)  17  were  sandy  or  gravelly 

(6)  10  had  a  black  loam  soil 

18 — Ornamentation  of  grounds 

a Of  129  school  grounds  reported  on  only  25  were  in  any  way 

improved 
b — Of  129  schools  visited  only  one  had  a  school  garden 


Conditions  and  Xc<ds  «/  Rural  Sclwvl*  in   Wisconsin.     37 


19 — Blackboards 

a — Of  105  schools  inspected  for  these  facts  there  were 

(1)  Wood  blackboards  only,  in  15 

(2)  Composition  blackboards  only,   in  16 

(3)  Slate  blackboards  only,  in  63 

(4)  Wood  and  composition  blackboards,  in  5 

(5)  Wood  and  slate  blackboards,  in  3 

(6)  Plaster  blackboards,  in  3 

b — Of  102  schools  in  which  measurements  were  made  the  black- 
boards had  an  area  of 

(1)  Under  30  square  feet  in  4 

(2)  From  30  to  40  square  feet  in  3 

(3)  From  40  to  60  square  feet  in  15. 

(4)  From  60  to  80  square  feet  in  32 

(5)  From  80  to  100  square  feet  in  22 

(6)  From  100  to  120  square  feet  in  14 

(7)  Over  120  square  feet  in  12 

e — Of  105  classrooms  inspected  for  these  facts  blackboards  were 
found 

(1)  In  front  only  in  25 

(2)  In  front  and  on  one  side  in  18 

(3)  In  front  and  on  two  sides  in  35 

(4)  In  other  combinations  in  27 

d — Out  of  105  schools  inspected  for  those  facts  only  20  provided 
some  blackboards  situated  not  over  30  inches  from  the 
floor,  so  as  to  provide  for  the  use  of  the  boards  by  small 
children 

e — Out  of  102  schools  inspected  for  these  facts  the  blackboards 
were  used  by  pupils  and  teachers 

(1)  Freely  in  56 

(2)  Infrequently  in  16 

(3)  To  a  fair  degree  in  30 

f — Of  104  schools  inspected  for  these  facts 

(1)  80  used  common  soft  crayon 

(2)  24  used  dustless  chalk 


38     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

g — Of  105  schools  inspected  for  these  facts 

(1)  16  were  provided  with  all  felt  erasers 

(2)  89  were  provided  with  wood  and  felt  erasers 

20— Seating 

a — In  the  131  schools  from  which  data  was  obtained  there  were 
4265  sittings  of  which 

(1)  94  were  adjustable 

(2)  4171  were  nonadjustable 

b— Of  these  131  schools 

(1)  Seats  of  assorted  sizes  were  found  in  123 

(2)  Seats  of  one  size  only  were  found  in  8 

c — The  type  of  seating  in  which  the  seat  of  the  desk  in  front 
is  attached  to  the  desk  behind  is  in  general  use 

d — The  practice  of  placing  small  sittings  and  large  sittings  in 
the  same  row  is  practically  universal 

e — This  results  in  a  high  seat  going  with  a  low  desk,  or  a  low 
seat  with  a  high  desk,  a  condition  infinitely  worse  than 
the  use  of  nonadjustable  seats 

f — In  half  the  schools  visited  double  seats  and  desks  only  were 
found 

g — In  one  case  such  desks  had  been  in  use  for  30  years 

21 — Libraries 

a — Of  106  schools  whose  libraries  were  examined 

(1)  7  had  in  their  libraries  less  than  50  volumes 

(2)  10  had  in  their  libraries  from  50  to  75  volumes 

(3)  7  had  in  their  libraries  from  75  to  100  volumes 

(4)  27  had  in  their  libraries  from  100  to  150  volumes 

(5)  47  had  in  their  libraries  over  150  volumes 

(6)  8  were  not  estimated 

b — During  the  past  year  there  were  added  to  the  libraries  in 
106  schools  from  which  figures  were  obtained 
(1)  Less  than  5  books  in  each  of  17  schools 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     39 

(2)  From  5  to  10  books  in  each  of  33  schools 

(3)  From  10  to  15  books  in  each  of  15  schools 

(4)  Over  15  books  in  each  of  21  schools 

(5)  None  in  each  of  20  schools 

<; — Out  of  these  106  schools 

(1)  International  dictionaries  were  found  in  66  schools 

(2)  General  encyclopedias  were  found  in  104  schools 

(3)  Other  reference  books  were  found  in  24  schools 

(4)  No  reference  books  were  found  in  13  schools 

d — Owing  to  the  law  that  all  books  m'ust  be  selected  from  a  list 
authorized  by  the  state  authorities,  the  libraries  were 
particularly  strong  in  the  character  of  their  selections 

e — One  library  was  kept  in  a  soap  box,  one  was  piled  on  the 
floor;  6  libraries  were  otherwise  improperly  cared  for 

22 — Manual  training  and  domestic  economy 

Not  one  rural  school  of  the  131  visited  had  any  equipment  for 
manual  training  or  a  sewing  machine. 


23 — Teachers '  records  of  visits  of  supervisors 

a — Out  of  the  131  schools  visited  11  kept  no  records  of  the  visits 
of  supervising  officers 

b — In  76  schools  there  were  no  transfer  cards  for  pupils  leaving 
the  district 

c — In  106  schools  no  records  were  kept  of  the  causes  of  absence 
of  pupils 

d — In  119  schools  no  records  were  kept  of  the  causes  of  tardiness 

e — In  only  59  schools  were  monthly  reports  made  to  the  county 
superintendent 

f — In  only  54  schools  were  term  reports  made  to  the  county 
superintendent 


40     Conditions  and  y<<ds  of  Kural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

g — Not  one  rural  school  teacher  out  of  the  131  visited  kept  re: 
ords  and  made  reports  adequate  in  all  respects,  i.  e., 

(1)  Kept  an  accurate  record  of  the  causes  and  amount 

of  absences 

(2)  Kept  an  accurate  record  of  the  causes  and  amount 

of  tardiness 

(3)  Sent  a  transfer  card  giving  information  as  to  scholar- 

ship, attendance,  etc.  to  the  new  school  of  every  ' 
pupil  leaving  the  district,  and  obtained  where  pos- 
sible a  similar  card  for  every  pupil  moving  into- 
the  district 

(4)  Kept  an  accurate  record  of  the  date  and  length  of 

visits  of  supervising  officers 

(5)  Made  monthly  and  terminal  reports  to  the  county 

superintendent   on   attendance    and   on   condition 
of  the  school  in  general 

24. — Amount  of  supervision 

a — Out  of  the  131  schools 

(1)  17  were  not  visited  during  the  year  by  either  state 

inspector  or  county  superintendent 

(2)  66  were  visited  once  by  the  county  superintendent 

(3)  30  were  visited  twice  by  the  county  superintendent 

(4)  8  Avere  visited  by  the  state  school  inspector 

(5)  from  18  the  information  was  not  available 

t — In  one  school  the  records  show  that  there  had  been  no  visit 
by  the  county  superintendent  in  six  years.  The  teacher 
who  had  served  in  this  school  for  two  years  stated  that 
during  her  incumbency  the  county  superintendent  had 
not  visited  the  school.  Not  a  pupil  had  ever  seen  the 
county  superintendent  in  the  school.  In  the  same  county, 
out  of  ten  schools  inspected,  only  two  had  been  visited 
by  the  county  superintendent  during  the  school  year 

25 — Certification  of  teachers 

a — Of  129  teachers  visited^  and  reported  on 

(1)  5  had  life  certificates 

(2)  19  had  first  grade  certificates 

(3)  50  second  grade  certificates 

(4)  55  third  grade  certificates 


Conditions  and  Xccds  of  Rural  fcchvol*  in   Wisconsin.     41 


26 — Length  of  service  in  present  school 

n — Of  128  teachers  visited  and  reported  on 

(1)  56  had  taught  in  their  present  school  less  than  1 

year 

(2)  39  had  taught  one  year 

(3)  20  had  taught  two  years 

(4)  9  had  taught  three  years 

(5)  4  had  taught  more  than  4  years 

27 — Total  length  of  teaching  service 

s— Of  115  teachers  visited  and  reported  on 

(1)  31  had  taught  in  all  less  than  one  year 

(2)  19  had  taught  in  all  from  1  to  2  years 

(3)  19  had  taught  in  all  2  to  3  years 

(4)  12  had  taught  in  all  from  3  to  4  years 

(5)  5  had  taught  in  all  from  4  to  5  years 

(6)  29  had  taught  in  all  5  years  or  more 

28 — Length  of  present  contracts 

a — Of  130  teachers  visited  and  reported  on 

(1)  1  had  contracted  for  less  than  a  year 

(2)  126  had  contracted  for  one  year 

(3)  1  had  contracted  for  two  years 

(4)  2  had  contracted  for  more  than  two  years 

29 — Salaries 

a — Of  73  teachers  visi-ted  and  reported  on 

(1)  2  were  paid  less  than  $30  a  month 

(2)  18  were  paid  between  $30  and  $35 

(3)  20  were  paid  between  $35  and  $40 

(4)  18  were  paid  between  $40  and  $45 

(5)  12  were  paid  between  $45  and  $50 

(6)  3  were  paid  between  $50  and  $60 

(7)  0  were  paid  over  $60 

b — Over  50%  of  the  teachers  visited  received  less  than  $40  per 
month,  janitor  work  included  in  most  instances 


42     Conditions  and  Seeds  of  Rural  Schools  in   Wisconsin, 

30 — Cost  of  teachers'  board 

a — Of  123  teachers  visited  and  reported  oh 

(1)  20  paid  less  than  $2.50  per  week 

(2)  50  paid  between  $2.50  and  $3.00  a  week 

(3)  22  paid  between  $3.00  and  $3.50  a  week 

(4)  11  paid  $3.50  or  over  a  week 

(5)  20  did  not  state  price  of  board 

b — Of  123  teachers  visited  and  reported  on 

(1)  11  boarded  at  home  outside  the  school  district 

(2)  15  boarded  at  home  within  the  school  district 

(3)  95  boarded  with  others  within  the  school  district 

(4)  2  boarded  with  others  outside  the  school  district 

c — In  all  13  teachers  boarded  outside  the  district  in  which  they 
taught,  and  of  the  95  who  boarded  within  the  district,  but 
not  at  home,  the  majority  in  thickly  settled  communities- 
went  home  for  the  week  end 

31 — Distance  of  teachers'  boarding  places  from  school 

a — Of  111  teachers  visited  and  reported  on 

(1)  73  lived  i/2  m^e  from  school  or  less 

(2)  38  lived  more  than  %  mile  from  school 

32 — The  teachers'  study  rooms 

a — Of  117  teachers  visited  and  reported  on 

(1)  98  were  provided  with  rooms  warmed  sufficiently  to 

be  used  for  study  purposes 

(2)  19  had  no  place  where  they  could  study  beside  the 

common  living  room 

33 — The  attitude  of  teachers  toward  country  life 
a — As  shown  in  school  work  was  not  sympathetic  in  32  cases 

b — As  shown  in  conyersation  with  the  investigator  was  not  sym- 
pathetic in  29  cases 


Conditions  and  Xccds  uf  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 


34 — Part  taken  by  teachers  in  community  life 

a — Of  131  rural  teachers  visited  85  took  no  part  whatever  in  the 
community  life,  i.  e.,  did  not  live  with  the  community, 
although  they  might  live  in  it 

35 — The  personal  equation  of  the  teacher 

a — Marking  on  a  standard  which  gave  the  teacher  the  benefit  of 
every  doubt,  giving  credit  for  every  indication  of  merit, 
and  making  all  due  allowance  for  the  shortness  of  the 
inspections,  out  of  118  teachers  studied  for  this  purpose 

(1)  31  were  found  unsatisfactory  in  neatness 

(2)  46  were  found  lacking  in  vivacity 

(3)  24  were  found  physically  unfit 

(4)  31  had  poor  address 

(5)  26  showed  an  undesirable  attitude  toward  visitors 

(6)  47  showed  an  undesirable  attitude  toward  child  life 

(7)  37  showed  weakness  in  discipline 

(8)  57  showed  a  lack  of  ability  to  instruct 

36 — The  rural  school  as  a  social  center 

a — Out  of  131  school  rooms  inspected 

\       (1)   6   were  used  for  joint    meetings  of    parents    and 
teachers 

(2)  0  were  used  for  mothers'  meetings 

(3)  8  were  used  for  meetings  of  debating  societies 

(4)  31  were  used  for  occasional  social  gatherings 

(5)  8  were  used  for  farmers'  meetings 

37 — Outside  co-operation  with  school  authorities 

a — In  but  2  of  the  131  schools  visited  was  there  any  evidence 
whatever  of  cooperation  of  school  patrons  with  the  school 
authorities  in  bringing  about  better  conditions  as  to 

(1)  Improved  equipment 

(2)  Improvement  of  grounds 

(3)  Decoration  of  school  building 

(4)  Improved  sanitary  conditions 


44     Conditions  and  Xccch  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

b — Several  school  patrons  when  asked  why  they  did  not  make  an 
effort  to  improve  conditions,  said  "it  is  up  to  the  school 
board" 

c— One  lady  in  response  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  as  to  the  amount 
of  outside  cooperation  with  the  local  school  boards,  wrote 
that  it  was  the  business  of  the  school  board  to  run  the 
schools  and  for  her  part  she  did  not  propose  to  meddle 
with  their  business 


38 — Snap  shots 

a — This  is  a  school  situated  in  one  of  the  wealthiest  farming  com- 
munities in  Wisconsin.  Farm  lands  are  rated  at  $150 
to  $200  per  acre,  until  a  buyer  desires  to  buy,  and  then 
he  is  likely  to  learn  that  he  cannot  buy  the  farms  at  all. 
Every  farm  is  well  improved;  not  only  are  there  stone 
silos,  spacious  barns  and  other  commodious  farm  buildings 
but  even  the  farmhouses  are  well  built  and  appear  to  be 
most  comfortable  homes.  The  school  ground  was  small 
—25  yards  by  24  yards — uneven  and  unkept.  The  out- 
house was  unscreened.  A  board  partition  only  separated 
the  boys'  closet  from  that  of  the  girls'.  The  door  on  the 
boys'  side  was  hanging  on  one  hinge.  The  interior  was 
indescribably  filthy  and  unfit  for  use.  The  school  building 
was  a  mere  shack  built  60  years  ago,  constructed  of 
matched  lumber  without  any  siding.  It  was  painted  dark 
green.  The  approach  and  steps  were  dilapidated  and  in 
v  poor  repair.  The  corridor  was  partly  filled  with  soft 
coal;  the  dust  had  spread  over  the  whole  floor  and  was 
being  tracked  into  school.  Entering  the  schoolroom,  the 
investigator  found  conditions  within  even  worse  than  those 
on  the  outside  already  described.  The  floor  was  littered; 
coal  dust  and  pieces  of  coal  were  scattered  around  the 
old  stove,  the  teacher's  desk  was  in  disorder;  the  room 
was  much  overheated ;  doors  and  windows  were  shut  tight 
to  exclude  the  cold  and  the  air  was  so  vitiated  as  to  be 
sickening.  The  lighting  was  unusually  poor.  The  four 
small  windows,  two  on  the  east  side  and  two  on  the  west, 
were  dirty  and  half  covered  by  shades ;  the  walls  and  ceil- 
ing were  dark ;  the  ratio  of  window  area'  to  floor  area  was 


Conditions  and  Xccds  uj  tiitral  Schools  in    Wisconsin.     45 

1-17.     The  children  were  dull,  listless  and  drowsy.     The 
teacher  was  simply  helpless.     Her  salary  was  $28  a  month, 
the  lowest  paid  any  rural  school  teacher  visited  during  the 
investigation.    Physically  she  was  unfit  to  teach  school.    On 
account  of  her  poor  health,  her  inexperience,  her  lack  of 
training,  the  physical  conditions  in  which  she  was  work- 
ing,  she  was  incompetent  and  hopelessly   weak.     Eleven' 
children  were  enrolled,  two  had  withdrawn,  leaving  nine 
pupils.     The  program  provided  for  37  recitations.       The 
school  day  consists  of  6  hours — 9  to  12  A.  M.  and  1  to  4 
P.   M.       Thirty  minutes  are  used  up  for  recess  and  15- 
minutes  for  opening  exercises,  leaving  5  hours,  15  minutes 
for  the  37  recitations  or  8  1/5  minutes  per  recitation.     De- 
ducting three  minutes  for  calling  and  dismissing  classes, 
and  taking  into  account  the  usual  interruption  by  pupils 
at  seats  leaves  less  than  5  minutes  per  recitation.    During 
the   recitations    heard,    the   children   showed   no   interest 
whatever  and  so  far  as  the  investigator  was  able  to  judge 
the  time  was  absolutely  wasted.     The  teacher  used  most 
of  it  in  scolding  and  nagging  the  children,  to  which  fortu- 
nately they  had  become  accustomed  and  so  cared  but  lit- 
tle, if  at  all 

b — In  the  northern  part  of  the  state  in  the  heart  of  the  "pine 
country"  was  found  a  brick  school  building  built  less  than 
two  years  ago.  It  was  impossible  to  find  out  the  actual 
cost.  The  estimated  cost  given  by  the  directors,  was  ' '  over 
$2,000."  This  should  have  insured  a  model  building,  but 
these  faulty  conditions  were  found : 

(1)  The  furnace  in  the  basement  was  not  effective 

(2)  The  shaft  for  carrying  off  the  foul  air  was  too  small 

(3)  The  arrangement  of  the  schoolroom  made  it  impos- 

sible to  place  seats  so  as  to  insure  proper  lighting. 
The  actual  arrangement  placed  the  major  light  in 
the  rear  of  the  pupils  while  they  were  forced  to 
face  the  light  from  two  windows,  one  in  each  cor- 
ner 

(4)  In  the  arrangement  of  corridors  and  closets,  much 

space  was  wasted 

(5)  In  clearing  the  site  every  shrub  and  tree  was  cut 

down,  although  some  splendid  pines  were  originally 


46     Conditions  and  Xccds  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

On  the  site  and  could  have  heen  left  standing.  This 
situation  is  quite  typical.     Because  of  lack  of  su- 
pervision many  defects  of  school  architecture  re- 
v*-  suit.     School  boards  in  the  construction  of  school 

buildings  almost  invariably  strip  a  school  site  of 
trees,  leaving  the  grounds  desolate  and'  barren 

c — In  a  school  district  located  in  eastern  Wisconsin  the  school 
building  was  found  in  poor  repair.  Years  ago,  when  the 
schcolhouse  was  constructed,  an  unusually  large  opening 
was  left  for  a  door.  The  hinges  supplied  proved  too  light 
to  properly  swing  the  door.  The  casings  were  injured  in 
the  numerous  efforts  to  remedy  the  defect,  and  much  of 
the  time  it  was  impossible  to  keep  the  door  closed.  At- 
tempts have  been  made  at  the  annual  school  meetings  to 
provide  double  doors  or  to  appropriate  a  sum  sufficient  to 
close  up  a  part  of  the  door  space,  so  as  to  require  a  lighter 
door.  This  was  one  of  the  chief  issues  before  the  annual 
meeting  for  two  years  and  in  May,  1912,  the  factions  were 
preparing  to  continue  the  fight.  The  leaders  of  the  fac- 
tions were  political  opponents.  Such  examples  of  petty 
and  personal  differences  determining  matters  of  vital 
school  importance  may  he  found  some  time  or  other  in 
every  district 

d — One  of  the  best  schools  seen  was  in  charge  of  a  young  girl, 
18  years  old,  just  graduated  from  a  nearby  high  school. 
The  pupils  were  alert,  responsive  and  busily  occupied. 
The  teacher  was  obtaining  fine  results  in  the  usual  school 
subjects.  The  investigator  inquired  as  to  her  plans  for 
introducing  agriculture,  manual  training  and  the  do- 
mestic arts  as  a  part  of  her  work.  She  replied  that  she 
did  not  know  what  was  meant.  After  she  had  been  told 
of  the  plans,  methods  and  results  gained  by  other  teachers 
in  teaching  these  subjects,  after  she  had  been  shown  how 
the  school  could  be  made  the  social  center  of  the  com- 
munity, after  she  realized  the  splendid  possibilities  of 
-creating  a  strong  school  spirit  in  the  district  by  means 
of  parents'  organizations,  she  said  to  the  investigator,  "I 
shall  certainly  try  to  do  these  things;  I  only  wish  I  had 
iknown  about  it  earlier  in  the  term'."  This  teacher  was 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     47 

an  unusually  capable  young  woman,  with  a  personality 
which  enables  her  to  organize  and  make  effective  any  work 
she  determines  is  needed  in  her  school  district.  She  is  a 
type  teacher  found  in  every  county  visited,  and  while 
such  teachers  are  in  the  minority  they  are  the  ones  who 
will  become  quickly  effective  in  every  forward  step  to 
school  betterment 

<e — In  another  school  a  young  woman  who  had  taught  for  five 
years  was  found  doing  rather  ordinary  school  work.  The 
teacher  gave  evidence  of  fine  power  and  in  some  of  the 
work  she  showed  great  skill  in  her  method  of  presentation. 
In  conversation  with  her  the  investigator  inquired  why 
she  was  not  making  more  of  her  opportunity  as  a  teacher, 
why  she  did  not  take  greater  interest  in  her  school  work, 
why  she  did  not  make  the  school  a  vital  factor  in  com- 
munity life  by  organizing  the  activities  in  which  the 
patrons  of  the  school  would  be  greatly  interested,  why 
she  did  not  reduce  the  work  in  arithmetic,  geography, 
etc.  to  terms  intelligible  to  the  children.  This  teacher 
was  sufficiently  intelligent  and  well  read  so  that  she  un- 
derstood what  was  meant ;  she  realized  the  importance  and 
the  need  of  the  work  suggested.  Her  reply,  however,  was 
startling — '"What  difference  would  it  make  if  I  did  do 
these  things'?  Who  cares  anyhow?"  Asked  whether  the 
county  supefintendent  would  not  greatly  appreciate  such 
work,  she  replied  that  he  "had  not  been  around  for  over 
two  years."  When  it  was  suggested  that  such  work  would 
be  appreciated  by  the  people  of  the  district  she  replied 
that  the  people  did  not  care  so  long  as  the  children  were 
taught  the  comm'on  branches  in  the  usual  way.  When 
finally  the  appeal  was  made  that  as  a  teacher  with  her 
natural  ability  she  owed  it  to  herself  to  do  the  work  sug- 
gested, she  replied,  with  a  twinkle  in  her  eye,  that  she  did 
not  expect  to  teach  much  longer 

f — In  another  school  a  young  woman  educated  in  the  country, 
was  in  charge  of  a  school  enrolling  ten  children,  most  of 
whom  were  in  the  first,  second  and  third  reader  grades. 
This  was  the  teacher's  first  teaching  experience.  In  con- 
versation with  the  investigator,  she  appeared  greatly 
interested  in  her  work  and  showed  a  beautiful  spirit.  In 


48     Conditions  and  AYafc  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

her  teaching  she  was  helpless.  In  teaching  reading  to  a 
group  of  four  children  all  she  could  do  was  to  point  to- 
words  and  tell  them  what  they  were.  The  children  had 
been  in  school  for  five  months,  but  apparently  they  had 
accomplished  almost  nothing  except  to  memorize  several 
.pages  of  the  primer.  They  did  not  know  words  isolated 
from  the  sentences  they  had  memorized.  When  the  teach- 
er's attention  was  first  called  to  .this  fact  she  could  not 
believe  it  to  be  true.  When,  however,  she  made  the  test 
and  satisfied  herself  that  the  children  really  could  not 
read,  she  was  greatly  disappointed  and  much  grieved — 
her  own  words  were — ''And  I  thought  these  children  were 
doing  so  well.'2  In  teaching  arithmetic  she  did  much 
better,  but  on  the  whole  she  was  entirely  lacking  in  ef- 
fective teaching  m'ethods.  She  was  a  bright  girl,  anxious 
and  willing,  but  in  her  methods  she  was  limited  to  what 
she  remembered  of  the  methods  used  by  her  own  teachers- 
in  the  rural  schools.  She  told  the  investigator  that  the 
county  superintendent  had  visited  her  about  a  month 
previous  and  had  made  no  criticism  or  suggestion  except 
to  explain  how  to  fill  out  the  blank  for  reporting  truancy. 
She  complained  that  there  was  no  way  by  which  she  could 
improve  herself  in  teaching  as  she  lacked  funds  to  enable 
her  to  attend  a  county  training  or  normal  schcol 

g — In  one  district  three  public-spirited  citizens  decided  that 
something  had  to  be  done  to  improve  their  old  tumbledown 
building  'and  to  improve  the  character  of  the  instruction 
in  their  school.  As  a  result  the  board  added  twenty  feet 
to  the  front  of  the  building  making  an  entryway  and  cor- 
ridor 9  feet  wide  by  20  feet  long  and  increasing  the  floor 
area  of  the  classroom  by  one-third.  The  building  was 
thoroughly  painted  on  the  outside  and  well  tinted  on  the 
inside.  A  jacketed  stove  and  ventilation  system  was  in- 
stalled. A  wood  box  was  constructed  so  that  wood  could 
be  put  in  from  the 'en  try  and  taken  out  from'  the  school 
room,  thus  reducing  to  a  minimum  the  dirt,  noise  and 
confusion  which  usually  accompanies  the  daily  replen- 
ishing of  the  wood  supply.  Tight  covers  were  provided 
for  the  wood  box  both  in  the  entryway  and  in  the  school- 
room. A  dust  proof  cabinet  for  individual  drinking  cups 


Conditions  and  Xccds  of  Rural  Schovls  in  Wisconsin.     49 

was  built  into  the  eutryway  and  a  larger  water  crock  was 
provided.  A  homemade  but  capacious  sand  table  with 
beautiful  clean  building  sand  was  provided.  An  organ 
was  added  to  the  equipment  as  well  as  a  good  bookcase. 
The  closets  were  well  screened  and  the  school  yard  cleaned 
up  and  partially  graded.  Good  new  hard  pine  floors  were 
put  in.  Then  the  board  hired  a  teacher  of  two  years' 
practical  experience  who  had  taken  all  but  20  weeks  of  the 
elementary  normal  school  course.  They  paid  her  $50  a 
month,  a  considerable  increase  over  any  salary  previously 
paid,  in  the  district.  The  teacher  was  of  good  presence, 
bright,  energetic  and  prepossessing.  The  children  were- 
infected  by  the  gcod  spirit  of  the  teacher.  Everyone  had 
something  to  do  and  was  doing  it  with  a  will.  The  teacher 
^is  planning  for  a  school -garden  in  the  spring  and  mothers' 
meetings  are  under  consideration.  The  class  periods  were 
short,  but  much  longer  than  usual,  only  one  being  as 
short  as  ten  minutes  and  two  being  as  long  as  twenty 
minutes.  The  back  of  the  room  was  decorated  by  -  a 
beautiful  large  American  flag  purchased  with  money  ob- 
tained by  the  sale  of  pins  by  the  children.  A  box  social 
was  soon  to  be  held  to  purchase  recitation  benches.  What- 
ever may  be  justly  said  concerning  the  parsimony  of  a 
board  which  will  not  furnish  such  things  from  the  tax 
levy,  it  certainly  spoke  well  for  the  public  spirit  of  both 
teachers  and  pupils  that  they  were  determined  to  have 
these  things  anyway 

h — Within  a  half  day's  drive  from  this  school  the  investigator 
found  a  building  not  so  old  but  in  a  terribly  dilapidated 
condition.  The  boys  had  kicked  holes  through  the  clap- 
boards and  boarding.  The  school  board,  having  been 
warned  by  the  county  superintendent  that  something  must 
be  done  if  they  wished  to  avoid  condemnation  proceedings, 
replaced  the  old  one-pane  window  on  one  side  of  the  build- 
ing by  four-pane  windows.  The  furniture  and  equip- 
ment consisted  of  four  maps,  a  teacher's  desk,  a  teacher's 
chair,  a  clock,  an  ancient  stove  and  alleged  seats  for  twenty 
children.  The  teacher  used  the  double  negative  in  the 
most  artistic  and  unconscious  way.  When  asked  if  the 
school  board  would  not  supply  her  with  a  sweeping  com- 


-50     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

pound,  she  said  that  ' '  they  never  got  me  nothing. ' '  There 
was  no  ventilation  save  by  the  windows.  The  large  boy 
who  kept  the  fire  going  did  not  bend  his  back  before  de- 
positing the  wood  on  the  floor,  to  the  great  danger  of  the 
building.  When  remonstrated  with,  he  "sassed"  the 
teacher.  The  teacher  was  not  provided  with  desk  copies 
of  the  textbooks.  In  fact  it  was  impossible  to  make  a 
list  of  the  textbooks  as  seemingly  there  were  as  many 
different  kinds  of  books  as  there  were  pupils.  All  the 
books  were  evidently  heirlooms.  The  outbuildings  were 
well  screened.  "Within  a  stone's  throw  of  this  building  is 
a  very  fine  farm  with  remarkably  fine  farm'  buildings.  It 
is  commonly  reported  that  the  building  for  the  hogs  cost 
$2,000.  The  school  building  might  be, worth  $100.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  more  money  is  spent  in  this  district  on 
making  hogpens  comfortable  for  their  occupants  than  on 
school  buildings — the  return  on  hogs  being  m'ore  immedi- 
ate than  on  children 

i — One  school  inspected  had  a  jacketed  stove,  good  ventilation, 
excellent  hard  pine  floors,  well  shellacked,  a  water  crock 
and  a  fair  equipment  of  apparatus.  But  the  room  was 
dirty,  the  children  listless  and  the  teacher  apathetic.  The 
teacher  chewed  gum  steadily  during  the  two  hours  the 
investigator  was  in  the  room.  She  was  uncultivated  in 
speech  and  coarse  in"  appearance.  There  was  a  'good 
plant  wasted  because  the  board  had  no  appreciation  of 
what  a  teacher  should  be  and  do.  An  interesting  side- 
light on  the  situation  is  shed  by  the  fact  that  the  teacher 
was  in  her  fourth  year  of  service  in  the  same  school  at 
a  salary  of  $35  per  month 

39 — Course  of  study 

a — The  Manual  of  the  Elementary  Course  of  Study,  issued  by 
the  state  department  of  public  instruction,  indicates 
what  portions  of  the  various  school  subjects  should  be 
taught  in  the  different  grades  or  forms.  ,  To  the  inexperi- 
enced teacher  the  m'anual  is  of  the  greatest  value.  •  Many 
teachers,  however,  pay  no  attention  to  the  manual,  pre- 
ferring to  follow  the  order  of  the  textbook  in  use.  This 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     51 

is  most  unfortunate  as  the  manual  has  attempted  to  adapt 
school  work  to  rural  school  needs  and  in  a  measure  has 
succeeded.  The  benefit  which  might  come  from  such 
study  of  the  manual  by  the  teacher  as  would  result  in 
actually  guiding  her  in  her  teaching  is  lost  as  a  result  of 
weak  and  inefficient  supervision  by  the  county  superin- 
tendent 

(1)  In  one  school  the  teaching  of  primary  reading  was 
unusually  ineffective.  The  investigator  called  the 
teacher's  attention  to  the  suggestions  on  the  teach- 
ing of  reading  on  pages  21  to  35  of  the  manual. 
She  admitted  that  she  had  not  read  them.  All 
the  children  had  the  habit  of  following  words  with 
the  finger  as  they  "bit  them  off"  one  at  a  time. 
"When  a  pupil  was  unable  to  name  the  word  he 
turned  the  book  toward  the  teacher,  the  finger 
just  under  the  word,  and  she  would  pronounce  it 
for  him.  The  investigator  in  his  conversation  with 
the  teacher  called  her  attention  to  paragraph  27, 
page  35  of  the  manual  which  is  as  follows : 
"The  pointing  habit" 

'The  pupil  should  not  be  allowed  to  point  to 
the  words  ^as  he  reads.  He  should  do  as 
the  method  described  will  start  him  in  do- 
ing; that  is,  take  in  the  sentence  at  a 
glance  and  then  give  the  thought.  Teach- 
ers are  sometimes  seen  pointing  to  the  words 
en  the  blackboard  one  after  the  other,  and 
having  the  child  call  them  in  succession, 
also  allowing  pupils  to  do  the  same  with 
finger  or  pointer.  While  the  child'  may 
use  his  finger  to  guide  his  eye  while  he  is 
studying  the  sentence  to  get  the  thought, 
when  the  time  for  oral  reading  com'es,  he 
is  to  give  thought  smoothly  and  naturally 
and'  not  merely  call  the  words  separately. 
*  This  does  not  apply  to  pointing  in  drill 

exercises  upon  lists  of  words' 
The  teacher  admitted  she  had  paid  no  attention 
to  these  and  other  suggestions 


52     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

(2)  In  another  school  a  group  of  boys  and  girls  were 
attempting  to  solve  some  very  difficult  miscel- 
laneous problems  in  the  application  of  percentage. 
The  children  floundered  hopelessly  in  their  at- 
tempt to  solve  them.  They  could  not  do  so  since 
they  did  not  understand  the  terms,  "bond", 
"above  par",  "true  discount",  etc.,  used  in  the 
problems.  The  teacher  in  her  attempts  to  explain 
the  problems  to  the  children  showed  that  she  her- 
self was  not  at  all  clear  as  to  their  meaning. 
The  investigator  called  the  teacher's  attention  to 
the  outline  and  suggestions  on  the  teaching  of 
arithmetic  on  pages  169-180  of  the  manual.  She 
had  read  these  and  could  give  no  reason  for  not 
following  the  suggestions,  made 

40 — The  program  of  recitations  and  study 

a — The  short  recitation  period 

(1)  An  analysis  of  thirty-one  programs  representing 
schools  in  eight  widely  separated  counties  shows 
the  average  length  of  the  recitation  period  to  be 
thirteen  minutes.  Allowing  for  the  time  used  in 
calling  and  dismissing  classes,  and  the  time  taken 
up  by  interruptions  of  the  recitations  by  the 
pupils  at  their  seats,  the  actual  time  taken  for  the 
recitation  is  less  than  ten  minutes.  In  so  short 
a  period  effective  class  teaching  is  impossible 

b — Method  of  questioning 

(1)  Another  factor  seriously  affecting  the  recitation  is 
the  method  of  questioning  used  by  the  teacher  in 
the  conduct  of  the  recitation.  Leading  questions 
prevail.  If  at  first  the  pupil  is  unable  to  give  the 
answer  the.  question  is  modified  and  repeated,  the 
answer  sought  being  made  more  and  more  appar- 
ent, These  replies  consist  of  single  words,  some- 
times phrases.  Rarely  are  they  well  rounded  sen- 
tences. Not  in  a  single  instance  did  the  investigator 
hear  a  topical  recitation  such  as  a  first-class  teach- 
er teaches  pupils  to  make.  It  was  not  uncom- 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     53 

mon  for  pupils  to  answer  with  a  rising  inflection 
of  the  voice  indicating  the  pupils'  doubt  as  to 
the  correctness  of  their  answers.  By  this  method 
teachers  use  up  most  of  the  time  in  asking  ques- 
tions, calling  for  one  word  replies.  The  facts  thus 
brought  out  are  isolated.  Rarely  do  teachers  even 
-attempt  to  establish  the  bearings  and  relations  of 
these  external  and  detailed  facts  to  the  subject 
of  which  they  are  a  part.  Much  less  do  they 
use  them  to  explain  or  light  up  everyday  life  and 
its  problems  as  real  teaching  should  do 

(a)  In  a  small  school,  nine  pupils  were  present 
cii  the  day  of  the  visit.  The  program  of 
recitations  was  divided  into  37  recita- 
tion periods,  not  counting  two  fifteen  min- 
ute recess  periods  and  two  ten  minute 
periods  for  opening  exercises.  The  teach- 
er was  inexperienced,  immature  and  with- 
out professional  training.  She  was  earn- 
est and  eager  to  do  well,  but  she  simply 
did  not  know  how  to  m'anage  her  school. 
Up  to  the  time  of  the  visit,  the  county 
superintendent  had  not  inspected  her 
school.  The  class  consisted  of  a  boy  and 
a  girl  apparently  about  fourteen  years  of 
age.  The  lesson  was  on  "The  Causes  of  the 
American  Revolution".  The  time  for 
the  recitation 

Teacher:   John,   you   m'ay   tell   us   the 

causes  of  the  Revolutionary  "War 
John :  (Looks  glum  and  hangs  his  head) 
Teacher:   Don't  you  know  the   causes 

of  the  Revolutionary  War? 
John:   (Shakes  his  head  but  makes  no 

reply) 

At  this  point  teacher  gees  to  back  part 
of  room  to  tell  a  youngster  the  word 
in  his  reading  lesson  which  he  had 
pointed  to  and  held  up 
Teacher:  Can't  you  tell  about  the 
Boston  Tea  Party? 


54     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

John:  (Brightens  up)  Yes 

Teacher :  Tell  it 

John:  They  dumped  the  tea  into  the- 
ocean 

Teacher:  Yes,  but  why  did  they  do  it 

John:  (Says  nothing.  At  this  point 
several  children  in  the  back  part  of 
the  room'  became  noisy.  A  boy  had 
been  annoying  some  of  the  other  chil- 
dren by  throwing  particles  of  snow 
brought  in  from  out-of-doors.  This 
led  to  trouble.  The  teacher  much 
annoyed  scolded  the  children  round- 

ly)  ' 

Teacher:  Anna,  you  may  tell  us,  John 
doesn't  know  his  lesson 

Anna:  (Looks  at  the  floor,  apparently 
much  embarassed  and  rem'ains  silent) 

Teacher :  (The  teacher  was  getting  nerv- 
ous, and  rather  sharply)  "Well,  they 
didn't  want  to  pay  taxes  did  they? 

John  and  Anna:  (Both  assented  that 
"they  "did  not) 

Teacher :  Then  what  happened 

John:  They  had  a  war,  didn't  they? 

Teacher :  Yes,  they  did.  For  the  next 

lesson  you  may  take  to  page  

You  must  study  your  lesson  better 
for  tomorrow.  You  didn't  do  very 
well  to-day 

(2)  Very  few  teachers  were  found  so  weak  and  helpless 

as  this  teacher.  But  the  same  method  was  repeat- 
edly used  by  the  poorer  teachers.  Even  the  best 
teachers  at  times  resorted  to  leading  questions 

(3)  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  the  graduates  of  the  county 

training  schools  and  of  the  New  Richmond  High 
School  Teachers  Training  Department  showed 
much  finer  teaching  ability  than  those  who  had 
not  had  this  professional  training.  Teaching  ef- 
ficiency in  counties  having  training  schools  is 
very  much  higher  than  in  other  counties 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     55 

c — Pupils  do  not  learn  how  to  study 

(1)  In  the  assignment  of  the  lesson  teachers  fail  to  point 

out  definitely  and  clearly  the  essentials  to  be 
sought  by  the  pupil  in  the  preparation  of  his- 
lesson 

(2)  During  a  recitation  in  a  school  visited  the  teacher 

becam'e  impatient  because  the  pupils  did  not  re- 
cite well.  She  was  especially  severe  in  scolding: 
one  boy.  He  become  resentful  and  retorted) — 
"Well  I  went  over  it  three  times".  "To  go 
over"  a  lesson  three  times  seemed  to  be  the  ac~ 
cepted  standard  of  preparation  in  that  school. 
The  teacher,  however,  informed  him  that  he  must 
"go  over  it"  again 

d — Teachers  fail  to  provide  profitable  employment  to  children- 

when  they  are  not  reciting 

(1)  In  schools  where  skillful  teachers  were  in  charge 
pupils  were  busy  and  tending  strictly  to  busi- 
ness. They  had  work  to  do  and  were  interested 
in  doing  it.  This  condition,  however,  prevailed- 
in  not  m'ore  than  30  schools  out  of  131  visited. 
In  the  remaining  schools  there  was  a  spirit  of  in- 
difference and  lassitude.  Sometimes  this  was  the 
result  of  overheating  and  lack  of  ventilation.  The 
chief  cause,  however,  was  that  pupils  appeared 
to  have  nothing  worth  while  to  do.  This  is  es- 
pecially true  of  the  younger  children.  Frequently 
they  were  busied  in  arranging  grains  of  corn, 
playing  with  toothpicks,  matches,  or  other  wooden' 
splints.  Sometimes  children  were  told  to  make 
words  out  of  so  called  "word  builders".  When 
teachers  were  asked  what  the  purpose  of  this- 
work  was  they  invariably  replied  "it  is  busy 
work".  But  what  is  "busy  work" — Then  would1 
come  the  reply — "It  is  to  keep  them  busy" 

41 — Character  of  school  work 

a — Teachers  fail  to  relate  what  they  teach  in  school  to  what 
the  child  does  and  learns  outside  of  school 
(1)  From'  earliest  years  the  child  reared  in  the  country 


56     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

becomes  responsible  for  the  performances  of  tasks 
and  chores  which  must  be  done  regularly  and  at 
definite  times.  "Wood  must  be  cut,  the  pigs  and 
calves  fed;  the  cows  must  be  milked  and  many 
other  similar  duties  nuist  be  done.  Out  of  these 
responsibilities  grow  trustworthiness,  habits  of 
work,  the  power  of  concentration  and  applica- 
tion. The  child  "comes  to  the  rural  school  vigor- 
ous, active  with  senses  keen  and  a  strong  impulse 
to  do.  He  has  acquired  considerable  knowledge 
of  his  environment.  He  has  a  splendid  founda- 
tion for  the  study  of  geography,  botany,  zoology 
He  has  some  knowledge  of  soils;  he  knows  why 
one  field  is  better  than  another  for  a  certain  crop ; 
in  his  observations  of  farm  life  he  has  been  stimu- 
lated to  reason  upon  causes  such  as  wind,  rain  and 
sunshine.  He  is  acquainted  with  the  topography  of 
the  farm.  He  is  familiar  with  plants  and  weeds 
on  the  farm'.  He  knows  clover,  corn,  potatoes, 
timothy  and  other  plants  and  grasses.  He  knows 
how  they  grow,  how  they  are  harvested  and  of 
what  use  they  are.  He  knows  the  farm  animals, 
the  trees,  .the  flowers  and  many  of  the  birds.  All 
of  these  things  have  interested  him  because  of  their 
usefulness  and  their  power  to  increase  the  family 
income.  This  extensive  fund  of  information  he 
brings  to  the  school.  Here  it  does  not  fit  in. 
His  introduction  to  school  work  is  the  traditional 
"see  the  cat",  "see  the  rat",  "the  cat  sees  the 
rat"  and  other  worse  than  useless  twaddle.  Ac- 
customed to  doing  things  full  of  purpose,  he  fails 
to  react  under  the  stimulation  of  textbook  m'aterial 
to  which  his  previous  experience  is  unrelated.  The 
teacher  has  failed  to  capitalize  the  child 's  experi- 
ence. As  a  result,  he  becomes  listless,  indifferent 
and  indolent 

b — The  story  of  several  recitations  heard  in  different  schools 

will  serve  to  show  the  failure  of  many  teachers  to  adapt 

the  work  to  the  ability  of  the  child  and  to  the  community 

(1)   Coming   into   one   school   the   investigator  found  a 


Conditions  and  Xctds  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     57 

class  of  two  boys  and  one  girl  reciting  in  geog- 
raphy. The  children  ranged  in  age  from  12  to 
15  years.  The  oldest,  a  boy,  was  asked  to  name 
the  exports  and  imports  of  England.  He  was  un- 
able to  give  any  answer  and  although  the  teacher 
struggled  with  him  and  with  the  other  children, 
she  failed  to  get  the  replies  she  sought.  She  ex- 
plained that  they  were  embarrassed  because  a  vis- 
itor was  present.  The  investigator  asked  if  he 
might  ask  them  a  few  questions  and  the  teacher 
consented.  Turning  to  the  boy  first  called  on  by 
the  teacher,  he  asked  him  what  the  exports  of  his 
father's  farm  were.  The  boy  still  hesitated,  but 
replied  with  the  question,  "Do  you  mean  what 
we  raise?"  Encouraged  by  a  partial  assent,  he 
went  on  and  becam'e  quite  enthusiastic  in  telling 
about  the  various  crops  grown.  Another  question 
brought  out  what  was  retained  on  the  farm 
and  what  was  sold.  Asked  as  to  imports  he  again 
hesitated,  not  knowing  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"imports".  When  asked  what  was  needed  on  the 
farm  that  they  could  not  raise,  he  again  started 
off  and  gave  a  very  clear  statement,  suggesting 
farm  machinery,  groceries,  harnesses  and  also 
spoke  of  buying  seed  potatoes  and  seed  corn. 
This  opened  up  a  new  field.  Before  leaving  the 
subject,  the  visitor  asked  the  children  to  com- 
pare ex-port  and  invport  asking  them  to  give  the 
meaning  of  the  words.  Without  hesitation  one 
of  the  boys  said  "Why  exports  means  what  you 
take  off  the  farms  and  imports  what  you  bring  in." 
Other  pupils  modified  this  and  gave  the  general 
meaning.  During  the  lesson  the  rest  of  the  school 
were  interested  and  when  at  last  the  original  ques- 
tion was  brought  up  the  pupils  were  eager  to  re- 
cite and  did  so  intelligently.  They  now  under- 
stood what  was  wanted  and  were  eager  to  tell  all 
they  knew,  and  even  more  anxious  to  find  out  the 
facts  supplied  by  the  text 

(2)  A  class  of  two  boys  and  three  girls  was  reviewing 
the  subject  in  preparation  for  the  county  super- 


-58     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

intendent's  examination  for  the  common  school 
diploma.  The  pupils  had  been  assigned  ten  prob- 
lems selected  by  the  teacher  and  written  upon  the 
board.  Following  are  some  of  the  examples : 

(a)  What  per  cent  above  cost  must  a  merchant 
mark  an  article  in  order  to  sell  it  at  a  discount 
of  16%   of  the  list  price   and  still  make   a 
profit  of  11%? 

(b)  An   agent   sells   415   yards   of   woolens   at 
$1.52  a  yard  charging  21/2%  commission.    He 
invests  the  net  proceeds  in  silks  at  $1.95  a 
yard  charging  3%%  commission.     How  many 
yards  can  he  buy? 

(c)  At  what  price  must  4%   bonds  be  bought 
to  yield  5%  on  the  investment? 

The  pupils  could  not  do  these  problems.  The 
teacher  presented  the  solution,  but  the  recitation 
showed  clearly  that  the  pupils  did  not  know  the 
terms  discount  and  commission  and  had  absolutely 
no  idea  of  what  a  bond  was.  Neither  did  the 
teacher.  Asked  why  she  had  selected  these  prob- 
lems, the  teacher  explained,  "they  were  in  the 
arithmetic  book".  Curious  to  know  whether  these 
children  understood  the  very  simplest  problems  in 
profit  and  loss,  the  investigator  asked  them  to 
solve  the  following:  "If  you  buy  a  pencil  for  2c 
and  sell  it  for  3c,  what  per  cent  do  you  gain?" 
They  took  all  the  time  they  wanted  for  the  solu- 
tion. These  are  the  answers  they  wrote  on  slips 
of  paper,  1%,  50%,  33%%,  %%  while  one  had 
%  or  %%.  No  one  could  explain  how  his  result 
was  obtained.  When  asked  to  give  the  equivalent 
per  cents  for  %,  %,  %,  %,  they  not  only  could 
not  do  so  but  they  did  not  know  what  was  meant 
<3)  Contrast  to  this  some  arithmetic  work  done  during 
a  recitation  in  agriculture.  Entering  the  school 
the  investigator  found  a  class  of  seven  children 
ranging  in  age  from  11  to  16  determining  at  the 
blackboard  the  value  of  milk  product  of  three 
cows  owned  by  parents  of  some  of  the  pupils. 
Following  are  the  facts  given: 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     59 

Cow  No.  1  gave  220  Ibs.  milk  during  week  test- 
ing 3i/2% 

Cow  No.  2  gave  196  Ibs.  milk  during  week  test- 
ing 4% 

Cow  No.  3  gave  250  Ibs.  milk  during  week  test- 
ing 3% 

How  much  was  realized  from  each  cow  for  the 
week,  butter  fat  being  worth  28c  a  Ib.  ?  Later  in 
the  same  session,  boys  were  determining  the  act- 
ual amount  of  corn,  on  an  ear.  They  weighed  the 
ear  of  corn,  shelled  it  and  weighed  the  corn  and 
cob  separately  and  found  what  per  cent  of  the 
whole,  the  cob  and  the  corn  were.  One  little  fel- 
low discovered  and  seemed  delighted  to  announce 
that  "you  can't  tell  by  the  size  of  the  ear  how 
much  corn  it  has;  it  m'ay  be  mostly  all  cob."  No 
comment  is  necessary  as  to  the  relative  value  of 
these  two  recitations;  neither  is  it  necessary  to 
call  attention  to  the  deadening  effect  of  the  first 
and  of  the  splendid  stimulation  of  the  pupils  re- 
sulting from  the  second 

•(4)  A  class  in  civics  in  another  school  consisted  of  two 
boys  and  a  girl  apparently  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  of  age.  The  teacher  was  struggling  to  teach 
the  three  departments  of  government — the  execu- 
tive, legislative  and  judicial.  The  pupils  had 
"gone  over"  the  lesson  in  the  textbook  but  could 
give  no  answers  to  the  teacher's  questions.  Upon 
asking  them  to  open  their  text  books  and  read  the 
lesson,  the  investigator  found  that  they  were  not 
only  unable  to  get  any  thought  but  they  actually 
could  not  pronounce  some  of  the  words  of  the 
lesson.  One  boy  pronounced  "executive"  ex-e-cu- 
tive  and  failed  utterly  to  pronounce  "judicial". 
Seeing  how  useless  it  was  to  continue  with  this 
lesson  the  visitor  was  curious  to  find  out  whether 
they  knew  anything  of  local  and  state  government. 
The  girl  told  him  that  La  Follette  was  now  gov- 
ernor and  one  of  the  boys  insisted  it  was  Taft. 
They  had  never  heard  of  McGovern.  When  asked 
as  to  the  school  district,  they  knew  how  members 


60     Conditions  and  Xccds  of  Rural  /Schools  in    Wisconsin. 

of  the  school  board  were  elected,  and  they  knew 
what  some  of  their  duties  were.  They  knew  noth- 
ing of  how  the  money  required  for  maintaining 
the  school  was  raised  although  they  had  studied 
"taxes"  in  arithmetic.  Asked  as  to  the  duties  of 
the  county  superintendent,  a  little  girl  said  that 
his  duty  was  to  visit  the  schools  and  a  boy  sug- 
gested that  the  "county  superintendent  made  chil- 
dren go  to  school".  These  same  questions  were 
repeated  in  many  other  schools  and  rarely  were 
the  correct  answers  given 

(5)  Other  recitations  could  be  described,  but  those  given 
are  typical.  Much  of  the  work  is  meaningless  and 
unrelated  to  any  of  the  child's  previous  experi- 
ences. Good  work  was  found  but  was  so  excep- 
tional as  to  be  almost  a  negligible  quantity  when 
the  work  of  the  rural  schools  as  a  whole  is  con- 
sidered 

c — Teachers  fail  in  the  teaching  of  reading 

(1)  Power  to  read  is  fundamental,  and  yet  pupils  are 

rarely  found  who  are  able  to  pick  out  the  essen- 
tial facts  of  a  paragraph.  Failure  to  do  this  makes 
it  impossible  for  the  student  to  gain  results  in 
the  subjects  requiring  him  to  get  his  information 
by  reading.  Even  in  the  solution  of  arithmetical 
problem's  most  of  the  trouble  arises  from  the  in- 
ability of  the  pupil  to  read  the  problems  so  as  to 
understand  the  conditions  named.  Most  of  the 
reading  consists  in  the  mere  calling  of  words;  it 
is  a  mechanical  process,  in  which  thought-getting 
is  not  the  end  sought 

(2)  The  actual  situation  is  best  shown  by  the  following 

incidents : . 

(a)  "In  one  school  the  older  pupils  were  found 
reading  out  of  a  history.  One  para- 
graph contained  the  following:  "Andros 
was  given  power  to  deprive  all  the  col- 
onies of  their  old  charters  and  to  give 
them  a  new  government" — Stumblingly 
a  fifteen  year  old  boy  read  along  "Andros 


Conditions  and  Xccds  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     61 

was  give  power  to  deprive  all  the  col- 
onies of  their  old  characters  and  to  give 
them  a  new  government".  This  was  un- 
corrected  and  another  pupil  read  on  in 
a  most  laborious  way.  The  following  sen- 
tence appeared  in  another  paragraph— 
"During  the  reign  of  King  George  III, 
British  troops  were  stationed  at  Boston 
and  the  presence  of  the  red  coats  was 
displeasing  to  the  citizens".  This  time 
a  girl  read,  with  the  following  result : 
"During  the  region  of  King  George  III, 
British  troops  were  stationed  at  Boston 
and  the  presence  of  the  red  coats  was  very 
displacing  to  the  citizens".  The  really 
vital  thing  to  be  ^considered  is  not  that 
these  pupils  miscalled  the  words  reign, 
charter  and  displeasing,  but  rather  t'hat 
the  readers  were  absolutely  unconscious 
of  the  fact  that  changing  the  words  com- 
pletely destroyed  the  thought  of  the  sen- 
tence. They  had  not  developed  a  read- 
ing consciousness.  So  long  as  reading  is  a 
mere  calling  of  words  and  not  an  effort  to 
get  thought,  what  can  be  gained  from  the 
study  of  history,  geography,  literature  or 
any  other  subject  requiring  the  reading 
of  text  books  for  the  information  de- 
sired? This  inability  readily  to  recog- 
nize ordinary  words  is  very  common. 
Even  in  the  better  rural  schools  pupils 
do  not  read  easily  and  with  facility 
(b)  Another  reading  class  consisted  of  two  girls 
and  a  boy.  They  had  been  in  school 
fourteen  months.  They  were  reading  in 
one  of  the  standard  primers,  the  saiw- 
book  in  which  they  had  started  when  firs. 
coming  to  school.  The  child  called  on 
began  to  pronounce  words ;  when  he  hes- 
itated the  teacher  named  it  for  him.  In 
this  way  the  teacher  pronounced  over  one- 


62     Conditions  and  \<<<ls  of  Rural  ticliool*  in   ^Yisconsin.. 

third  of  all  the  words,  by  actual  count. 
There  was  no  attempt  to  group  words 
into  phrases  or  sentences,  so  as  to  get 
the  thought 

(c)  Another  class  of  children  who  were  doing 
third  year  work  was  found  reading  the 
"Story  of  the  Three  Bears."  Labori- 
ously the  pupils  struggled  through  sev- 
eral paragraphs.  When  asked  to  repeat 
the  story  they  had  read,  they  were  un- 
able to  do  so.  The  visitor  then  said  to 
one  of  the  children  "Can't  you  tell  the 
story  of  the  three  bears?"  Immediately 
the  child's  face  lighted  up  and  eagerly 
he  told  the  story.  Upon  inquiry  the 
visitor  learned  that  the  teacher  had  told 
them  this  story  some  days  previous  for 
a  language  exercise.  It  was  apparent 
that  although,  the  children  were  reading 
the  very  story  told  them  by  the  teacher 
they  had  failtd  to  recognize  it  in  the 
lesson 

d — It  is  notable "  that  the  graduates  of  the  County  Training 
Schools  were  much  more  effective  in  teaching  reading  than 
the  teachers  who  had  had  no  training 

e — Those  who  had  graduated  from  the  New  Richmond  High 
School  Training  Department,  five  of  whom  were  seen, 
were  unusually  strong  and  effective  in  their  teaching  due 
to  the  fact  that  in  this  school  unusual  care  is  taken  to 
teach  their  students  methods  in  teaching  reading  and  pri- 
mary work  generally 

42 — How  teachers  obtain  their  positions 

a — In  conversation  with  school  directors  the  investigator  re- 
peatedly inquired  as  to  the  method  used  in  engaging 
teachers.  In  the  school  board  conventions  the  investiga- 
tor had  a  fine  opportunity  for  meeting  and  conversing 
with  school  directors 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  ^Yisconsin.     63 

(1)  The  following  interview  with  one  school  member 
is  typical  of  many  others:  How  do  you  hire  your 
teacher?  "Well,  that  depends".  Depends  on 
what?  was  asked.  "Well,  it  depends  on  whether 
we  have  many  trying  to  get  the  school  or  not". 
What  do  you  do  when  you  have  no  applicants? 
"Well,  we  have  to  write  to  the  county  superin- 
tendent then,  and  he  gets  us  a  teacher".  But 
what  do  you  do  when  the  teachers  apply  to  you 
in  person?  "Why,  we  talk  to  her  and  if  she 
looks  good,  wTe  promise  her  the  job."  Do  the 
three  school  directors  ever  get  together  to  talk 
over  the  merits  and  qualifications  of  different  ap- 
plicants? "No,  we  don't.  You  see  we  don't  have 
to.  She  usually  comes  to  see  each  of  us  separately 
and  we  tell  her".  How  do  you  know  whether 
the  teacher  is  the  kind  you  want?  "What  do 
you  mean?"  Don't  you  know  that  there  is  a 
great  difference  in  teachers?,,  That  some  manage 
their  schools  in  such  a  way  that  they  do  the  chil- 
dren more  harm  than  good?  That  some  accom- 
plish more  in  'one  term  than  others  do  in  five? 
How  do  you  know  what  kind  you  are  getting? 
"Well,  if  she  has  had  experience  isn't  that  enough? 
She  can  tell  us  how  much  she  has  taught,  can't 
she?" 

b — This  interview  tells  the  story;.  School  board  members  do 
not  select  teachers  intelligently.  Personal  considerations 
usually  determine  the  choice.  A  good  looking  girl  with 
a  Avinning  wray  can  easily  gain  the  directors'  approval. 
Even  if  she  is  not  particularly  pleasing  in  personality, 
prevailing  human  nature  makes  it  difficult  to  arbitrarily 
say  to  an  applicant  that  she  can't  have  the  position. 
What  the  director  usually  says  if  not  entirely  satisfied 
with  the  applicant's  appearance,  is  that  if  the  other  di- 
rectors do  not  object,  he  won't.  Having  gained  the  com- 
plete or  partial  consent  of  the  first  board  member  seen, 
she  goes  to  the  second.  To  him'  she  tells  of  her  inter- 
view with  the  first  member.  The  second  member  takes  the 
position  that  he  is  willing  if  the  others  are.  To  gain  the 


64     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

consent  of  the  third  director  is  easy,  as  the  teacher  can 
say  to  him  that  the  other  two  have  no  objections 

>c — In  conversation  with  teachers  the  investigators  verified  the 
facts  as  given  above.  Teachers  stated  that  unless  some 
neighborhood  quarrel  complicated  the  situation,  the 
method  of  procedure  -described  prevails  generally  where 
school  board  members  select  the  teachers 

d — In  some  counties,  the  superintendent  has  succeeded  in  con- 
vincing school  board  members  that  they  are  not  in  a  posi- 
tion intelligently  to  select  teachers  for  their  schools,  that 
they  should  contract  with  no  one  not  recommended  by 
him  for  the  position.  In  one  county  careful  inquiry 
showed  that  for  two  years  past  no  rural  school  teacher  had 
been  employed  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
county  superintendent.  In  every  county  visited,  county 
superintendents  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  are  asked  by 
school  boards  to  recommend  teachers.  It  was  impossible 
to  determine  just  to  what  extent  this  was  done  as  county 
superintendents  kept  no  record  showing  the  facts 

43 — The  lack  of  efficient  supervision 

& — Many  teachers  were  found  who  in  their  teaching  fell  far 
short  of  wrhat  they  could  have  accomplished,  had  they  re- 
ceived the  benefit  of  intelligent  direction  and  of  con- 
structive criticism.  While  but  comparatively  few  teach- 
ers could  equal  the  best  described,  either  in  scholarship, 
aptness  in  teaching  or  in  fine  personal  qualities,  yet  all 
the  teachers  seen  with  but  few  exceptions  displayed  such 
an  earnestness  and  eagerness  to  do  the  most  possible  for 
their  schools,  that  under  the  stimulating  leadership  of  a 
county  superintendent  who  was  earnestly  trying  to  work 
out  a  definite  constructive  program  for  improving  his 
schools,  these  teachers  would  have  greatly  increased  their 
teaching  efficiency.  Taken  as  a  whole  the  quality  of  school 
work  seen  was  poor.  This  is  due  not  so  much  to  the  lack 
of  interest  or  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  teachers,  but 
rather  to  the  fact  that  they  do  not  know  what  to  do  nor 
how  to  do  it.  Through  no  fault  of  theirs  they  are  lacking 
in  school  ideals;  they  have  little  or  no  appreciation  of 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     65 

what  a  rural  school  should  accomplish  and  how  it  should 
minister  to  the  needs  of  the  school  community.  They  are 
teaching  as  they  were  taught,  handling  the  usual  subject 
m'atter  in  a  lifeless  and  perfunctory  manner.  The  one 
thing  most  needed  to  lift  school  work  from  the  rut  of 
mediocrity  into  which  it  has  sunk  is  intelligent  leadership. 
Teachers  need  helpful  suggestion,  encouragement  and  the 
stimulation  which  comes  from  appreciation  of  results  ac- 
complished 

\ 
b — Where  there  is  leadership  and  sympathetic  cooperation  with 

teachers  by  superintendents,  teachers  do  respond  and  be- 
come trem'enduously  effective  in  carrying  out  a  superin- 
tendent's constructive  program.  There  is  much  poor  work 
and  a  great  deal  of  wasted  effort  in  the  rural  schools  in- 
spected. Teachers  are  severely  criticised  and  held  respon- 
sible for  the  conditions  found.  Apparently  they  are  to 
blame.  Actually  the  responsibility  lies  with  county  super- 
intendents who  fail  to  use  or  to  make  the  best  of  their 
opportunities 

(1)  to  develop  the  latent  powers  of  their  teaching  corps 

(2)  to  arouse  among  school  patrons  a  healthier  school 

spirit 

(3)  to  point  to  better  school  ideals  and  in  other  ways 

become  the  educational  leaders  of  their  counties 

44 — Training  of  teachers  for  rural  schools 

a — Four  county  training  schools  were  inspected 

(1)  One  was  in  the  same  building  with  a  county  agri- 
.  cultural  and  domestic  science  school.  There  seemed 
to  be  practically  no  cooperation  between  the 
faculties  of  the  two  schools.  The  young  men  stu- 
dent teachers  did  not  have  the  use  of  the  manual 
training  equipment  downstairs  belonging  to  the 
agricultural  school.  The  young  women  student 
teachers  did  not  use  the  cooking  equipment  of  the 
domestic  science  school.  The  instruction  in  music, 
drawing  annd  calisthenics  was  particularly  good. 
The  practice  teaching  department  was  efficiently 
managed  although  all  the  practice  work  had  to 


66     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

be  done  in  graded  city  schools.  The  teacher  in 
charge  of  this  department  took  out  her  pupils  in 
groups  to  observe  in  nearby  rural  schools.  The 
lighting  of  the  building,  the  ventilation  and  in 
fact  all  the  sanitary  arrangements  were  above  the 
average.  The  classrooms  were  adorned  with  good 
pictures  and  statuettes.  The  school  possessed  an 
electrical  stereoptican  and  reflectroscope.  In 
spite  of  its  shortcomings,  the  influence  of  this 
school  was  incalculable.  On  entering  a  rural 
school  in  the  vicinity  one  could  always  tell  whether 
the  teacher  came  from'  the  nearby  training  school 
(2)  Another  county  training  school,  which  in  its  pros- 
pectus called  itself  a  normal,  occupied  its  own 
building.  The  building  cost  $30,000  and  was  up- 
to-date  in  almost  every  particular.  The  ratio  of 
window  area  to  floor  area  was  1 :4.  Good  ventila- 
tion was  insured  by  powerful  fans,  The  air,  how- 
ever, was  so  dry  as  to  make  speaking  difficult 
and  teachers  frequently  complained  of  sore  throat. 
Although  the  conditions*  might  easily  be  par- 
tially corrected  at  little  expense  nothing  has  been 
done.  The  school  possesses  an  anemometer,  which 
the  principal  could  not  read.  He  holds  the  in- 
strument in  front  of  the  fresh  air  inlet,  and  if 
the  wheel  goes  around  rapidly,  he  decides  that 
the  ventilation  is  all  right.  The  staff  averages 
over  10  years  in  experience.  Two  have  university 
training  and  the  others  normal  school  training. 
Only  one  has  had  experience  in  rural  school  teach- 
ing and  administration.  The  tenure  of  office  of 
members  of  the  staff  varies  from  two  to  nine  years. 
The  school  enrolled  an  unusually  large  proportion 
of  high  school  graduates,  21  out  of  70.  The  prac- 
tice teaching  department  was  strong  but  all 
practice  teaching  and  observation  was  done  in 
graded  classes.  There  are  rooms  for  manual  train- 
ing and  domestic  economy  but  they  are  not 
equipped.  Except  for  a  very  little  agriculture, 
the  instruction  is  in  the  traditional  subjects,  but 
this,  on  account  of  the  good  equipment  and  the  able 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     67 

staff,  is  of  a  high  order.  The  school  has  an  excel- 
lent library,  piano,  numerous  pictures  and  statu- 
ettes presented  by  graduating  classes,  and  the  be- 
ginnings of  an  excellent  iriuseum 

b — Two  normal  schools  with  courses  for  country  teachers  were 
visited 

(1)  One  such  course  is  given  in  a  normal  school  in  a 

small  third  class  city.  The  country  lies  all  around 
and  near  at  hand.  The  normal  school  has  adopted  a 
real  rural  school,  at  some  distance  from  the  town, 
for  practice  purposes.  This  school  is  efficiently 
taught  by  an  experienced  teacher.  There  is  a 
proposal  that  this  school  be  moved  to  the  normal 
school  campus  in  order  to  obviate  the  difficulty 
of  transporting  practice  teachers.  This  would  de- 
stroy the  opportunity  of  making  the  present  school 
a  real  rural  school  center  and  of  thus  placing  an 
object  lesson  in  community  work  before  the  eyes 
of  the  student  teach  eis 

(2)  Another  normal   school   which   gives    a    course   for 

rural  teachers  had  also  adopted  a  one  room  un- 
graded school  as  a  practice  school.  It  was,  how- 
ever, a  rural  school  in  name  only.  Out  of  30  chil- 
dren only  one  lived  on  a  farm.  The  teacher  said 
very  pointedly  that  he  had  no  use  for  country 
life  nor  sympathy  with  it.  Neither  was  he  willing 
to  give  any  time  or  effort  to  social  center  work.  It 
might  be  all  right  for  those  who  liked  that  sort  of 
thing,  but  for  himself  he  found  social  relations 
with  such  people  as  he  would  have  to  meet  very 
distasteful.  At  any  rate  he  hadn't  any  time  to 
give  to  outside  work.  The -influence  of  this  young 
man  was  sufficient  to  neutralize  a  great  deal  of  the 
advantages  resulting  from  good  equipment  and  a 
trained  staff  of  instructors 

c — A  training  department  for  rural  school  teachers  in  connec- 
tion with  a  high  school  was  visited 

(1)  This  school  is  in  the  heart  of  a  wealthy  agricultural 
community.  The  high  school  has  an  attendance  of 
250  pupils,  130  of  whom  come  from  neighboring 


68     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

rural  districts.  The  high  school  does  unusually 
strong  work,  due  largely  to  the  excellence  of  the 
teachers  and  the  fact  that  the  boys  and  girls  from 
the  county  are  earnest  and  eager  to  make  the  most 
of  their  school  opportunities.  They  must  pay 
tuition  and  board.  The  incidental  expenses  added 
to  these  makes  the  total  close  to  $25.00  a  month. 
The  children  realize  that  this  is  a  considerable  sum 
and  they  feel  that  only  by  doing  their  best  will 
such  an  expense  be  justified.  Such  modern 
branches  as  manual  training,  cooking,  etc.,  are 
entirely  lacking.  Many  young  people  com'e  to  the 
school  so  as  to  fit  themselves  for  teaching  in  rural 
schools.  It  is  a  mark  of  distinction  to  be  allowed 
to  take  the  work  in  the  teachers'  training  depart- 
ment as  only  those  who  have  done  strong  work 
during  the  first  two  years  of  their  high  school 
course  are  allowed  to  register  for  the  teachers' 
training  course.  The  pupils  in  this  department 
are  given  strong  courses  in  the  subjects  usually 
taught  in  the  rural  schools  and  in  addition  they 
are  given  some  splendid  work  in  practical  agri- 
culture. It  is  the  purpose  of  the  principal  of  the 
school  to  give  a  course  the  coming  year  showing 
these  prospective  teachers  how  the  rural  school 
m'ay  become  the  real  social  center  of  the  community 
and  what  a  teacher  may  do  to  bring  this  about. 
The  practice  teaching  is  in  charge  of  an  unusually 
fine  teacher,  who  is  also  principal  of  the  primary 
grades  in  the  city  schools.  The  practice  work  is 
done  in  the  first,  second,  third  and  fourth  grades. 
Som'e  little  practice  teaching  is  done  in  nearby 
rural  schools  and  a  considerable  amount  of  ob- 
servation. The  teaching  by  the  pupils  is  done 
under  the  direction  and  supervision  of  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  practice  department.  Not  only  do  the 
practice  teachers  take  charge  of  entire  classes  in 
a  room  but  they  frequently  take  small  groups  of 
pupils  into  the  halls  where  they  drill  pupils  in 
such  parts  of  the  work  as  the  pupils  need  especially 
to  review.  In  this  way  pupils  who  are  backward  and 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     69 

who  ordinarily  would  become  laggards  are  given 
just  the  help  they  need  and  so  saved  from  becom- 
ing "repeaters,"  The  halls  are  spacious,  fitted  up 
with  blackboards  so  that  this  group  teaching  can 
!)<>  ('ilVctivcly  done.  Teaching  these  groups  is  more 
like  actual  country  school  teaching  than  the  usual 
instruction  of  a,  class  enrolling  from  20  to  40 
pupils.  Five  schools  in  which  graduates  of  this 
training  school  were  teaching  were  visited  by  one 
of  the  investigators.  In  one  school  inspected,  the 
strongest  work  seen  by  this  investigator  in  any  rural 
school  in  Wisconsin  was  observed.  All  the  other 
teachers  were  far  beyond  the  average  in  ability. 
They  showed  in  their  teaching,  their  management 
of  the  school,  their  attitude  to  the  school  district, 
the  effects  of  the  training  they  had  received 


PART  IV 


Some  Serious  Defects  of  County  Supervision 


1 — The  supervision  of  schools  by  county  superintendents  is 
hopelessly  inadequate 

a — Visits  to  the  schools  are  made  too  infrequently 

(1)  From  records  In  the  county  superintendents'  offices 

it  has  been  found  that  more  than  one  visit  to  the 
same  school  in  one  year  is  infrequent 

(2)  From  a  careful  inquiry  in  13  counties,  in  which  131 

rural  schools  were  visited  during  the  period  from 
February  to  June,  it  was  found  that  in  only  one 
county  had  more  than  two  visits  been  made  to  any 
one  school ;  that  the  average  to  all  schools  was  only 
one,  and  that  17  schools  had  not  been  visited  dur- 
ing the  year  1911-1912 

(3)  Of  eight  rural  schools  seen  in  one  county,  only  two 

had  been  visited  within  a  year;  one  had  been  vis- 
ited three  times  in  five  years;  one  had  not  been 
visited  in  two  years;  three  in  three  years  and  one 
in  five  years 

b — The  large  number  of  schools  that  many  county  superinten- 
dents have  under  their  charge  now  makes  it  necessary  to 
cut  the  visits  so  short  as  to  be  almost  futile,  if  they  visit 
each  school  twice  a  ;?ear 

c — Rural  schools  in  Wisconsin  are  in  session  from  160  to  180 
days;  but  the  superintendent  cannot  visit  on  all  of  these 
days  because 

(1)   The  roads  are  often  bad  and  weather  is  often  in- 
clement 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     71 

(2)  Press  of  clerical  duties  and  office  routine  frequently 

keeps  him  at  home 

(3)  Visiting  is  in  many  cases  not  desirable  on  afternoons 

preceding  or  forenoons  following  holidays 

(4)  Visiting  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  the  year  is 

comparatively  ineffective.  On  the  whole,  county 
superintendents  might  fairly  be  expected  to  spend 
100  days  per  year  in  visiting  schools.  The  fol- 
lowing table  gives  an  idea  of  conditions  in  13 
counties : 

County  Number  of  Buildings  Number  of  Teachers 

1  78  90 

2  31  52 

3  59  75 

4  92  118 

5  190  235 

6  71  172 

7  119  155 

8  127  187 

9  75  95 

10  135  197 

11  191  236 

12  234  319 

13  116  194 

On  the  basis  of  a  6  hour  school  day,  the  theoreti- 
cally possible  length  of  visits  varies  from  1% 
hours  in  a  thickly  settled  southern  county  to  5 
hours  and  45  minutes  in  a  thinly  settled  northern 
county.  The  figures  given  are  only  theoretically 
possible  in  many  northern  counties  where  dis- 
tances between  school  buildings  are  great  and 
where  roads  are  bad.  In  many  other  counties, 
where  visits  of  two  or  three  hours  are  practically 
possible,  the  visiting  falls  far  short  of  100% 
efficiency 

(5)  Supervision  becomes  perfunctory  and  but  little  time 

is  given  to  personal  conference  with  either  the 
teacher  or  the  school  board 


72     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

(6)  "This  is  the  first  time  that  my  school  has  ever  been 

inspected",  has  been  the  frequent  remark  of  the 
teacher  to  the  investigator 

(7)  Every  year  1,500  young  girls  of  common  school  educa- 

tion and  with  only  six  weeks  training  in  methods  of 
teaching  and  school  administration  are  facing  their 
first  school,  yet  the  only  supervision  they  receive 
is  the  brief  visit  of  the  county  superintendent  and 
the  conferences  at  the  institutes 

(8)  The  state  superintendent  says  in  his  fourteenth  bi- 

ennial report  (page  3)  "There  is  no  adequate  su- 
pervision of  these  schools.  As  a  rule  the  county 
superintendent  finds  it  impossible  to  visit  the 
schools  more  than  once  a  year  and  then  for  a  brief 
time.  Many  of  these  visits  come  toward  the  end 
of  the  school  year.  The  teacher  is  thus  thrown 
almost  wholly  upon  her  own  resources,  and  one  out 
of  every  three  or  four  teachers  on  the  average  is 
doing  her  first  year's  work  and  in  many  cases 
never  saw  the  inside  of  a  country  school  before" 

2— The  unrestricted  power  to  certificate  teachers,  held  by  the 
county  superintendent,  is  a  source  of  great  weakness 

a — The  standard  of  marking  examination  papers  varies  from 
county  to  county.  A  grade  of  50  is  acceptable  as  passing 
mark  in  some,  60  and  even  70  is  required  in  others.  Of 
47  superintendents  answering  the  question,  "Would  the 
free  selection  of  teachers  from  other  counties  improve  your 
schools  ? "  34  answered,  ' '  No, ' '  meaning  to  express  distrust 
in  the  judgment  of  other  superintendents 

b — The  questions  used  in  the  examinations  are  frequently  un- 
suitable for  testing  the  candidates'  abilities.  In  some 
cases  questions  are  bought  by  the  superintendent  already 
printed  from  school  supply  houses  and  used  without  pre- 
tense of  adapting  them  to  local  needs 

e — Too  many  opportunities  are  offered  for  favoritism  and  undue 
influence  from  outside 

(1)   One  county  superintendent  remarked  to  the  investiga- 
tor that  a  predecessor  in  office  would  issue  a  license 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     73 

to  any  candidate  he  would  name,  "even  if  it  were 
a  two-year  old  child" 

(2)  It  is  commonly  asserted  even  by  county  superinten- 
dents that  from  certain  other  superintentents 
"anybody  can  get  a  certificate  who  is  related  to 
one  or  more  voters" 

3 — Anxiety  about  re-election  is  a  bar  to  higher  efficiency 

a — It  leaves  the  superintendent  directly  responsible  to  no  one 

(1)  His  responsibility  to  the  state  superintentent  or  to 

anyone  who  can  judge  the  efficiency  of  his  service 
is  negligible 

(2)  Responsibility  to  the  electorate  can  be  evaded  through 

the  usual  method  of  "politics" 

b — It  tempts  him  to  curry  -favor  with  the  politicians  instead  of 
insisting  upon  good  schools 

(1)  The  very  people  whom  he  should  condemn  for  fail- 

ure to  provide  decent  schools  and  equipment  are 
those  who  can  oppose  his  re-election 

(2)  The  greater  the  need  for  vigorous  action,  the  more 

dangerous  it  is  for  the  county  superintendent  to 
do  his  duty 

(3)  Having  spent,  as  practically  all  must,  several  hun- 

dred dollars  in  canvassing  for  election,  he  is  natur- 
ally timid  about  losing  the  advantage  once  gained. 
(One  county  superintendent  declared  to  an  inves- 
tigator that  it  cost  him  $400  to  be  elected  and  his 
opponent  $1,000  to  be  defeated) 

4 — The  salaries  are  insufficient 

a — In  1911  the  salaries  paid  to  county  superintendents  were: 

Less  than  $800, 5 

$800  to  $1,000, 33 

$1,100  to  $1,200, 25 

$1,300  to  $1,400,   4 

$1,500,    4 

$1,800, 1 

b — The  best  equipped  men  accept  the  salaries  under  $1,500  only 
as  a  stepping  stone  to  other  professions  or  to  politics 


74     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 


5 — The  enforcement  of  the  truancy  law  is  not  effective 

a — Cooperation   is  lacking   between  departments   and   between 
officials 

b — Confusion  exists  as  to  whose  duty  it  is  to  enforce  the  law 

c — Many  county  superintendents  content  themselves  with  send- 
ing to  the  industrial  commission  or  to  the  sheriff,  or  both, 
lists  of  children,  who  have  been  reported  by  the  teachers 
as  absent  one  or  more  days,  and -take  no  further  action 

(1)  The  cause  of  absence  is  not  always  stated 

(2)  These  county  superintendents  hold  that  the  respon- 

sibility of  bringing  the  children  to  school  rests 
with  the  industrial  commission 

(3)  The  fear  of  getting  into  trouble  with  his  own  con- 

stituents makes  the  county  superintendent  eager  to 
shift  upon  the  industrial  commission  the  burden 
of  enforcing  the  law 

d — Representatives  of  the  industrial  commission  contend  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  county  authorities  to  enforce  the 
truancy  law,  and  that  its  own  function  is  primarily  to  see 
that  the  county  superintendent,  the  sheriff  and  the  dis- 
trict attorney  are  diligent  in  enforcing  the  law,  and  that 
the  power  it  may  have  to  prosecute  individual  cases  is 
rendered  nugatory  by  the  lack  of  appropriation  therefor 

e — NO  system  has  been  devised  giving  such  supervision.  (Since 
this  was  written  the  industrial  commission  has  taken  steps 
to  remedy  this  defect) 

(1)  In    the  office   of  county  superintendents  as  a   rule 

there  are  no  records  of  actions  taken  in  regard  to 
delinquent  'parents,  nor  of  children  who  are  re- 
turned to  school  as  a  result  of  such  action 

(2)  Without  such  records,   any  supervision  by  the  in- 

dustrial commission  is  impossible 

f — Neither  from  the  office  of  the  state  superintendent  nor  from 
the  industrial  commission  have  definite  instructions  been 
issued  as  to  the  policy  of  enforcing  the  truancy  law 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.    IS- 

g — The  attempts  of  the  sheriff  and  district  attorney  to  enforce 
the  truancy  law  are  generally  perfunctory 

(1)  The  usual  procedure  is  for  the  sheriff  to  notify  the 

delinquent  parents  by  mail  that  they  have  failed 
to  comply  with  the  law 

(2)  In  one  county  the  sheriff  stated  that  he  had,  during 

the  school  year  1911-12,  sent  out  145  notices,  of 
which  only  11,  most  of  them'  in  the  city,  had  been 
investigated  by  him  or  his  deputies.  The  records 
in  the  county  superintendent's  office  seemed  to 
indicate — the  records  were  somewhat  indefinite — 
that  283  names  had  been  reported  to  this  sheriff. 
In  no  case  had  an  attempt  been  made  to  inform 
the  teacher  of  the  sheriff's  action  and  no  records 
of  results  were  kept. 

(3)  Teachers  are  not  informed  of  notices  sent  to  parents. 

The  county  superintendents  rely  upon  the  teach- 
ers' ni'orithly  report  to  see  results 

(4)  In   one   county   lists  of   truant   children   had  been 

regularly  sent  to  the  district  attorney,  who,  upon 
inquiry  late  in  the  spring,  stated  that  he  had  mis- 
laid the  papers  and  forgotten  about  them 

h — In  two  counties  visited  the  delinquent  parents  were  arrested 
because  the  warning  notice  sent  upon  the  first  offense  had 
not  been  heeded 

6 — Systematic   use   is    not  made   of   records   in   supervising 
schools,  attendance  and  teachers 

a — Cumulative  records  of  visits  describing  conditions  of  school 
buildings  in  need  of  supplies  and  repairs,  of  recommenda- 
tions submitted  to  school  boards,  of  improvements  made 
and  of  progress  of  the  school  as  shown  in  better  attend- 
ance, etc.,  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence 

b — In  no  county  superintendent's  office  has  a  complete  set  of 
last  year's  census  lists  been  found 

(1)  One  superintendent  had  received  during  the  year  no 
report  of  the  names  or  the  number  of  children  at- 
tending the  various  schools,  and  had  no  m'eans  of 
knowing  what  proportion  of  children  were  enrolled 


76     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

or  how  many  of  compulsory  age  ever  came  to 
school 

(2)  Repeated  requests  for  teachers'  reports  for  truant 
children  were  met  with  the  reply  that  these  re- 
ports must  have  been  misplaced,  as  they  could  not 
be  found 

c — Only  in  six  counties  seen  were  records  of  the  teachers'  legal 
qualifications  found,  although  the  county  superintendent 
certifies  to  the  state  superintendent  that  none  but  quali- 
fied teachers  are  engaged.  Most  county  superintendents 
obtain  this  information,  if  at  all,  at  their  visits  to  the 
schools.  Records  showing  the  standing  received  by  teach- 
ers in  examinations  for  certificates  have  been  found  in  all 

counties 

•  i 

d — Record  of  teaching  power,  skill  in  school  management,  at- 
tendance at  professional  schools  or  institutes  is  rarely  made 

i 

e — Modern  office  equipment,  such  as  filing  cabinets,  card  cata- 
logues, etc.,  are  only  sparingly  or  not  at  all  supplied  by 
the  county  boards 

(1)  In  one  of  the  counties  seen,  the  superintendent  had 

been  provided  with  an  office,  but  the  only  indica- 
tion of  equipment  was  her  own  typewriter 

(2)  One  superintendent  who  kept  systematic  records  of 

his  work  was  compelled  to  file  them  in  pigeon- 
holes and  drawers  of  his  desk.  To  find  any  of 
them  he  wastes  considerable  time,  which  a  filing 
cabinet  would  save  for  better  use 

f — Reports  and  form's  used  are  not  standardized  as  to  size; 
therefore  in  consulting  important  documents  so  much  unty- 
ing of  bundles,  folding  and  unfolding  of  papers  is  re- 
quired and  time  wasted,  that  such  consultations  are  nat- 
urally infrequent 

g — When  a  new  superintendent  is  elected,  he  steps  into  an  office 
that  furnishes  him  with  scanty  or  no  information.  Of 
the  official  acts  of  his  predecessor  he  has  no  records.  He 
must  spend  a  year  or  more  in  getting  acquainted  with  the 
schools  before  he  can  enter  intelligently  upon  his  duties 
as  a  superintendent 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     11 

h — No  provision  is  made  by  the  state  department  to  instruct  a 
county  superintendent  in  the  performance  of  office  duties, 
although  efficient  administration  requires  systematic  rec- 
*  ord  keeping 

(1)  Instruction  in  methods  that  prevail  in  an  up-to-date 

business  office,  and  proper  forms  and  systems  of 
records  could  legitimately  come  from'  the  state  de- 
partment 

(2)  Properly  systematized,  most  of  this  work  could  be 

done  by  a  clerk  and  the  superintendent  find  in- 
creased time  for  supervision  of  schools 

i — The  lack  of  system  in  keeping  records  and  the  neglect  of  the 
county  boards  of  supervisors  to  provide  him  with  office 
help,  compel  the  county  superintendent  to  waste  tim'e  that 
should  be  spent  in  visiting  schools,  the  most  important  of 
his  duties 

(1)  A  clerk  relieves  one  superintendent  of  much  of  such 

duties  as  checking,  summarizing  and  filing,  keep- 
ing track  of  correspondence  with  school  boards 
and  teachers,  giving  routine  information,  distribut- 
ing pamphlets  and  circulars 

(2)  Without   a  system  or  method  the  county  superin- 

tendent finds  the  performance  of  this  clerical  work 
an  excuse  to  remain  unnecessarily  in  his  office  and 
to  postpone  and  omit  school  visiting 


PART  V 


Some  Serious  Defects  in  State  Supervision 


1 — The  responsibility  of  county  superintendents  for  the  super- 
vision of  rural  schools  is  not  clearly  defined  by  law 

a — The  state  superintendent  cannot,  for  instance,  remove  from 
office  a  county  superintendent  for  laxity  in  visiting  schools, 
for  issuing  certificates  to  incompetent  teachers,  for  per- 
mitting unsanitary  conditions  to  continue  in  schools 

2 — Present  powers  of  the  state  superintendent  have  not  been 
adequately  exercised 

a — He  has  the  power — and  the  duty — to  demand  reports  of 
work  perforiried  and  results  accomplished  and  the  oppor- 
tunity of  using  publicity  in  comparing  those  results 

(1)  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  county  superintend- 

ent    *  *     from  time  to   time    (to  transmit) 

such  other  facts  relating  to  education  in  his  dis- 
trict as  the  state  superintendent  shall  require", 
(page  100,  School  Laws  of  Wisconsin) 

(2)  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said   (state)  inspector  (of 

rural   schools)  to   procure   informa- 

tion concerning  the  rural  school  districts  *  *  * 
(and)  to  confer  with  each  county  or  district  su- 
perintendent concerning  the  conditions  of  the 
schools  in  his  county  or  district".  (Page  306, 
School  Laws) 

b — Eegular  inspection  of  the  offices  of  county  superintendents 
or  of  the  records  contained  therein  is  not  made 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     71) 
c — Publication  of  findings  is  therefore  impossible 

d — Comparison  of  county  with  county,  showing  the  condition 
of  the  schools  and  the  efficiency  of  county  superintendents, 
is  not  presented  to  the  people  by  the  state  superintendent 

e — No  regular  system  is  devised  by  which  the  work  of  an  effici- 
ent county  superintendent  is  brought  to  the  attention  of 
other  superintendents 

f — The  effective  work  described  on  pages  8-10  in  this  report 
as  done  by  one  county  remains  practically  unknown  in  the 
rest  of  the  state 

3 — Low  standards  of  certification  frustrate  the  efforts  of  the 
county  training  schools 

a — The  rural  school  is  made  a  training  field  for  graded  and 
city  schools  and  a  dumping-place  for  untrained  and  un- 
successful teachers 

b — The  supply  of  inexperienced  girls  who  are  now  legally  quali- 
fied to  teach  keeps  the  salaries  at  a  rate  which  no  com- 
petent teacher  is  willing  to  continue  in  school  work 

c — The  law  that  "cheap  money  always  drives  good  money  from 
the  market"  is  as  inexorable  when  applied  to  teachers  as 
it  is  in  trade.  So  long  as  the  standards  of  salaries  is  set 
by  the  untrained  teachers,  the  graduates  of  the  training 
schools  will,  in  spite  of  the  exhortations  of  the  principals, 
go  to  graded  or  village  schools  after  they  have  served  with 
success  a  year  or  two  in  the  ungraded  schools 

d — As  long  as  a  certificate,  obtained  after  a  six  weeks  training 
course,  qualifies  for  teaching,  the  purpose  of  establishing 
training  schools,  namely  to  supply  the  rural  schools  with 
trained  teachers,  will  not  be  attained 

e — The  short  time  in  which  teachers  stay  in  the  rural  school-— 
the  bi-ennial  school  report  of  1910  (p.  35)  states  that 
from  one-fourth  to  one-third  are  new  each  year — is  a  strong 
indication  that  many  of  the  teachers  fail  to  retain  their 
position  in  a  school;  or  as  the  report  expresess  it  (p.  33) ; 


SO     Conditions  and  \<  <ds  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

"Many  young  people  have  taken  up  this  work  not  be- 
cause they  were  especially  adapted  for  it,  but  because  it 
was  the  only  thing  they  could  do  with  their  limited  amount 
of  preparation" 

4 — Reports  of  school  facts  are  lacking  in  intelligent  purpose 

a — The  purpose  of  the  present  collection  is  chiefly  to  furnish 
information  for  the  distribution  of  school  money 

b — School  reports  offer  very  scant  assistance  to  those  whose 
duty  it  is  to  supervise  truancy,  to  fit  courses  of  study  to 
the  maturity  of  children  in  the  school,  and  to  know  how 
far  the  schools  minister  to  the  needs  of  the  children 

c — Fundamental  questions  are  left  unanswered,  such  as  the  age 
at  which  children  enter  school,  the  age  at  which  they  leave, 
how  many  complete  the  work  of  the  grades,  the  number 
of  days  they  attend 

d — No  correlation  is  made  between  the  number  of  children  on 
the  census  returns  and  the  number  in  school,  and  one  is 
at  a  loss  to  know  how  many  children  should  be  in  school 
but  are  not 

e — The  facts  concerning  the  rural  schools,  graded  schools  and 
high  schools  are  put  into  one  basket,  shaken  and  summar- 
ized into  one  total 

f — In  the  table  of  teachers'  salaries  the  last  bi-ennial  report  pre- 
sents a  roseate  view  of  substantial  salary  increases  during 
the  last  decade  but  fails  to  state  how  far  the  graded  and 
high  schools,  which  to-day  constitute  a  much  larger  per- 
centage of  the  total  number  of  schools  than  they  did  ten 
years  ago,  have  contributed  to  this  increase 

g — To  justify  the  expenditure  for  school  needs,  opinions  only, 
not  facts,  can  be  quoted.  The  people  are  left  in  unneces- 
sary ignorance  of  the  needs,  shortcomings  and  gains  of 
their  schools 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Scho-ols  in  Wisconsin.     81 

5 — The  distribution  of  school  funds  is  not  equitable 

a — The  allotment  of  public  money  to  the  educational  depart- 
ments, as  public  instruction,  normal  schools,  university  and 
libraries,  or  to  the  various  branches  of  any  one  department, 
as  rural  schools,  city  schools,  high  schools,  etc.,  of  the  de- 
partment of  public  instruction,  is  not  based  upon  a  care- 
fully prepared  budget  showing  the  needs  of  the  various 
departments  or  branches 

b — Apportioning  state  money  among  the  towns  according  to  the 
number  of  children  over  4  years  of  age  and  under  20 
does  not  consider  the  economic  power  of  the  district  to 
support  schools 

(1)  It  imposes  upon  a  poor  district  with  10  children  the 
•same  burden  of  paying  teachers'  salaries  and  build- 
ing a  school,  as  upon  a  more  populous  district  with 
40  or  50  children 

c — "Taxation  for  school  purposes  in  the  country  is  very  un- 
equal in  the  different  districts" 

(1)  "Some  districts  do  not  tax  themselves  at  all,  but 

depend  on  the  state  and  county  money  to  run  their 
schools" 

(2)  "Cases  have  been  found  in  which  the  district  has 

thus  accumulated  a  large  bank  account  in  addi- 
tion to  running  the  school" 

(3)  "It  should  be  added  that  in  such  cases  the  school 

is  usually  run  on  a  cheap  basis".     (Fourteenth 
Biennial  Report,  p.  3) 

d — An  exhaustive  study  of  the  present  method  of  providing  for 
rural  schools  has  not  been  made,  but  the  investigators 
have,  on  many  occasions,  seen  evidence  of  wastefulness 
and  injustice  in  the  present  distribution 

6 — The  distribution  of  school  funds  is  not  the  factor  it  should 
be  in  effecting1  educational  improvement 

a — It  gives  no  premiums  to  efficient  schools 

b — It  offers  no  inducements  to  the  districts  to  bring  all  children 
to  school  who  should  be  there,  or  keep  them  in  school  after 
they  are  enrolled 


82      Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 
c — It  disregards  the  necessity  of  efficient  teaching 

d — It  permits  the  expenditure  of  school  money  without  pro- 
viding adequate  control  that  the  purpose  of  the  expendi- 
ture shall  be  accomplished 

e — It  supplies  the  machinery  of  education  but  ignores  the  pur- 
poses 

f — As  long  as  the  state  demands  that  all  children  of  school  age 
must  attend  school,  it  assumes  the  responsibility  of  fur- 
nishing schools  that  make  of  the  children  useful  and  cap- 
able citizens 


PART  VI 


Contrast  Between  State  Supervision  of  State 

Graded  Schools  and  State  Supervision 

of  Rural  Schools 


-A  careful  study  was  made  of  the  reports  on  50  schools  of 
the  two  state  inspectors  of  state  graded  schools  for  the 
academic  years  1909-1910,  1910-1911  and  1911-1912.  The 
following  results  appeared: 

(1)  Of  the  50  schools  concerned 

(a)  31  were  visited  once  each  year 

(b)  16  were  visited  twice  in  three  years 

(c)  3  were  visited  once  in  three  years 

(2)  Som'e  of  these  failures  to  visit  were  caused  by  the 

removal  of  schools  from  the  list  due  to  failure  to 
live  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  law 

(3)  The  average  time  spent  in  inspection  by  an  inspector 

of  state  graded  schools  was  3  hours  and  45  minutes 

(4)  There  is  no  record  to  show  the  average  length  of  an 

inspection  by  the  county  superintendent.  The 
average  length  of  a  visit  by  him  might  theoretic- 
ally be  on  the  average  about  2  hours  25  minutes 

(5)  The  records  of  visits  by  inspectors  of  state  graded 

schools  show  that  out  of  363  licenses  reported  on 
only  19  or  5.2%  held  third  grade  certificates 

(6)  Out  of  111  rural  school  teachers  visited  41  or  37.% 

held  third  class  certificates 
(?)   Out  of  363  ratings  given  to  teachers 

(a)  2  were  marked  excellent 

(b)  6  were  marked  very  good 

(c)  101  were  m'arked  good 

(d)  207  were  marked  fair 


84     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

(e)  30  were  marked  poor 

(f)  17  were  given  no  rating 

(8)  There  is  no  similar  careful  weighing  of  teachers' 

work  in  the  county  inspection 

(9)  Out  of  78  cases  where  it  would  have  been  possible 

to  report  improvement  or  deterioration 

(a)  Janitor  service  was  reported  improved  in  11 

cases,  deteriorated  in  18 

(b)  School  grounds  were  reported  improved  in 

13  cases,  deteriorated  in  8 

(c)  Outhouses   were  reported  improved  in  13 

cases,  deteriorated  in  10.  No  such  re- 
ports come  to  the  state  department  from 
rural  schools 

(10)  In  the  128  inspections  studied,  made  by  inspectors 

of  state  graded  schools 

(a)  55   recommendations  were  made  to  school 

authorities  to  purchase  supplies 

(b)  34  recommendations  were  made   to  school 

authorities  to  purchase  equipment 

(c)  25   recommendations  were   made  to   school 

authorities  to  improve  ventilation 

(d)  4  recommendations  were  made  to  school  au- 

thorities to  provide  evaporating  pans 

(e)  19   recommendations  were   made   to  school 

authorities  with  regard  to  heating 

(f)  7  recommendations  were  m'ade  to  school  au- 

thorities with  regard  to  lighting 

(g)  7  recommendations  were  made  to  school  au- 

thorities with  regard  to  drinking  water 
(h)   3  recommendations  were  made  to  school  au- 
thorities with  regard  to  new  buildings 

(11)  Of  all  these  recommendations  only  one  important 

recommendation  had  to  be  repeated  three  times 
and  another  twice.  In  17  cases  state  aid  was  re- 
fused until  Conditions  required  by  the  law  were 
fulfilled 

(12)  No  such  service  is  rendered  by  the  state  depart- 

ment to  ungraded  rural  schools 

(13)  Power  to  refuse  state  aid  is  a  mighty  weapon  where 

inspection  is  adequate 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     85 

(14)  After  inspecting  a  school,  an  inspector  of  a  state 
graded  school  sends  through  the  state  department 
a  letter  to  the  school  authorities  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing : 
Mr.  -  June  3,  1911. 


Dear  Sir : 

Inspector  -  -  of  this  department  reports 

spending  the  forenoon  of  May  31st  at  your  school 
in  company  with  your  county  superintendent. 

Mr.  -  -  states  that  he  called  to  see  you  and 

discussed  m'atters  pertaining  to  the  school.  I  note 
by  the  report  that  the  recommendations  made 
last  year  have  not  been  complied  with.  It  was 
recommended  that  recitation  seats  be  placed  in  all 
rooms.  The  blackboards  in  all  of  your  rooms  are 
in  poor  condition  and  new  slate  boards  should  be 
placed  in  the  principal's  room  before  the  begin- 
ning of  the  next  school  year  and  it  will  be  well  to 
supply  one  room  each  year  until  all  rooms  are 
supplied. 

Mr.  -  -  states  that  the  policy  you  have 

pursued  with  regard  to  engaging  a  teacher  for 
the  primary  department  of  your  school  is  not  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  graded  school 
law.  I  understand  that  a  person  with  practically 
no  experience  was  engaged  when  you  had  an  op- 
portunity to  secure  any  one  of  the  three  or  four 
teachers,  recommended  by  your  county  superin- 
tendent. You,  of  course,  understand  that  special 
state  aid  is  granted  to  the  schools  of  the  state  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  the  districts  extra  money 
writh  which  to  maintain  good  schools.  There  is 
nothing  that  enters  into  the  making  of  a  good 
school  so  much  as  a  strong  teacher.  The  policy  of 
letting  jobs  to  the  lowest  bidder  will  always  bring 
poor  conditions  in  time. 

We  shall  withhold  the  approval  of  your  school 
until  the  school  can  be  inspected  next  year  and 
we  becom'e  satisfied  that  your  school  board  has 


86     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

made  an  earnest  endeaver  to  place  the  strongest 
teachers  possible  in  your  school. 
Wishing  you  success,  I  am, 

Yours  truly, 

C.  P.  Gary, 
State  Superintendent. 

(15)   Such  letters  to  rural  school  authorities  from  the 
state  department  are  necessarily  rare 

b — That  this  close  inspection  has  its  effect  is  indicated  by  the 
following  facts  in  contrast  with  conditions  in  ungraded 
rural  schools 

(1)   Of  seven  state  graded   schools  investigated  in  the 
rural  school  survey 

(a)  All  but  one  had  a  school  ground  of  an  acre 

or.  over 

(b)  Only  one  school  site  was  ranked  poor 

(c)  The  lowest  ceiling  found  was  11  feet  high 

(d)  All  were  ventilated  by  the  gravity  system 

in  connection  with  either  a  furnace  or  a 
jacketed  stove 

(e)  Waterclosets   averaged   over   60   feet   from 

the  buildings  and  120  feet  apart 

(f)  All  had  been  visited  during  the  year  by 

the  state  inspector 

(g)  Three  had  their  floor  dressed  by  non-drying 

oil  or  used  a  sweeping  compound 
(h)   Two     had    their    waterclosets     thoroughly 

cleaned  out  frequently 
(i)   One  had  its  watercloset  thoroughly  cleaned 

semi-annually 
(j)   One  had  its  watercloset  thoroughly  cleaned 

yearly 


PART  VII 


Suggested  Administrative  and  Legislative 
Remedies 


1— That  county  boards  of  education  be  elected  at  the  general 

school  election 

a — To  consist  of  three  members  to  serve  six  years 
b — To  serve  without  salaries 

c — To  appoint  the  county  superintendent  from  an  approved 
list  made  up  by  the  civil  service  commission 

d — To  control  county  schools  of  agriculture  and  county  train- 
ing schools  for  teachers 

e — To  pass  upon  the  centralization  of  school  districts 

f— -To  advise  the  superintendent  to  withhold  state  aid  from 
small  and  inefficient  schools  whenever  in  its  judgment  the 
facts  warrant  it 

g — To  appoint  an  assistant  to  the  county  superintendent  when- 
ever the  number  of  teachers  in  his  district  exceeds  eighty 

2 — That  state  aid  be  given  to  county  boards  of  education  to 
assist  in  the  proper  maintenance  of  the  office  of  county 
superintendent  on  condition  that 

a — An  adequate  salary  is  paid  to  the  county  superintendent 
b — An  efficient  clerk  is  appointed 

c — The  county  superintendent  demonstrates  efficiency  to  the  state 
department  of  public  instruction 


88     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 

3 — That  to  insure  efficient  teaching  of  agriculture  and  domes- 
tic economy  in  rural  schools  there  be  appointed 

a — A  supervisor  of  agriculture  and  a  supervisor  of  domestic 
arts  who  shall  be  members  of  the  staff  of  the  state  super- 
intendent 

b — Agricultural  inspectors  who  shall  be  members  of  the  facul- 
ties of  county  schools  of  agriculture 

c — Other  agricultural  inspectors  in  counties  where  there  are  no 
county  agricultural  schools 

4 — That  contests  in  agriculture  and  domestic  economy  be  en- 
couraged by  the  state  department  of  public  instruction 

5 — That  the  training  of  teachers  of  agriculture  and  domestic 
economy  be  encouraged  by  the  offer  of  free  scholar- 
ships 

6 — That  the  curriculum  of  the  county  training  schools  include 

a — Increased  instruction  in  agriculture 

b — Elements  of  medical  inspection 

c — Farm  accounting 

d — Methods  of  keeping  school  records  and  accounts 

7 — That  qualifications  for  obtaining  teachers'  certificates  be 

raised 

a — After  January  1,  1915,  ninth  and  tenth  grade  work  should 
be  required  before  taking  the  six  weeks  professional  train- 
ing course 

b — After  January  1,  1917,  graduation  from'  a  training  school 
or  department  shall  be  required 

c — After  January  1,  1919,  ninth  and  tenth  grade  work  should 
be  required  as  entrance  qualifications  to  training  schools 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     89 

d — In  case  certificates  are  granted  by  the  county  superintend- 
ents, the  examinations  in  academic  subjects  should  be  given 
by  the  state  board  of  examiners 

8 — That  the  manual  should  be  revised,  eliminating  non-essen- 
tials of  the  academic  subjects,  strengthening  the  courses 
in  agriculture  and  adding  courses  in  manual  training 
and  domestic  arts 

9 — That  the  staff  of  school  inspectors  be  strengthened 

a — Two  inspectors  should  be  temporarily  appointed  to  assist 
districts  in  planning  for  centralized  schools 

10 — That  closer  co-operation  be  established  between  the 
schools  and  the  circulating  libraries 

a — The  township  library  funds  should  be  expended  for  the  pur- 
chase of  books  of  reference,  and  for  supplementary  and 
collateral  reading 

b — Books  from  the  free  libraries  should  circulate  among  the 
schools 


11 — That  the  ''two  mile  limit"  law  be  amende^  so  as  to  insure 
the  education  of  all  children  of  school  t0j  who  are  out- 
side of  the  two  mile  limit. 


12 — That  intelligent  interpretation  and  publication  of  school 

facts  be  made 

a — School  reports  should  be  standardized  and  adapted  to  the 
forms  suggested  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion 

b — Annual  or  more  frequent  bulletins  containing  school  facts 
should  lio  issued  by  the  state  superintendent  of  public  in- 
struction 


90     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin. 


13 — That  the  use  of  school  money  be  supervised 

a — Accounting  forms  for  school  clerks  and  treasurers  should  be 
prescribed  by  the  state  superintendent 

b — School  accounts  should  be  checked  by  state  auditors 

c — Classified  budget  estimates  for  all  educational  departments 
should  be  submitted  by  the  proper  authorities 


14 — That  increased  state  aid  to  rural  schools  and  increased 
state  supervision  of  rural  schools  go  hand  in  hand  to 
the  end  that 

a — Inspection  may  be  made  m'ore  effective  through  the  leverage 
afforded  by  the  possibility  of  withdrawing  state  aid 

b — The  state  department  may  effectively  promote  among  the 
rural  communities  the  widest  and  most  efficient  use  of  their 
educational  resources 

15 — That  rural  schools  be  classified  for  subvention  and  in- 
spection purposes 

a — The  following  is  a  tentative  plan  pending  a  fuller  analysis 

( 1 )  of  the  present  apportionment  of  school  moneys 

(2)  of  the  total  expense  of  putting  such  a  plan  in  opera- 

tion in  city  and  rural  schools 

b — Rural  schools  of  the  first  class 

(1)  These  schools  shall  contain  eight  grades  and  where 
possible  one  or  more  high  school  years.  They  shall 
be  conducted  not  less  than  nine  months  and  have 
at  least  two  teachers.  The  principal  shall  hold  a 
state  professional  license.  One  assistant  shall  hold 
at  least  the  first  grade  certificate.  The  principal 
shall  be  engaged  for  a  whole  year  and  shall  be  qual- 
ified to  teach  agriculture,  shall  supervise  the  work 
of  the  boys  in  agriculture  during  the  summer 
months  on  plots  on  the  home  farms  and  shall  con- 
duct extension  work  among  the  adults  in  the  com- 
munity. One  of  the  assistants  shall  be  employed 


Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  Schools  in  Wisconsin.     9l 

for  a  whole  year  and  shall  be  qualified  to  teach  do- 
mestic arts;  shall  conduct  during  the  summer  ex- 
tension work  among  the  girls  and  adults  of  the 
community.  The  principal  shall  receive  a  salary 
of  not  less  than  $1,000  per  annum'.  One  assistant 
shall  receive  a  salary  of  not  less  than  $750  per 
annum,  and  no  one  less  than  $50  per  month 
(2)  The  state  shall  pay  to  the  local  school  authorities 
controlling  such  a  school  a  subvention  equal  to 
two-thirds  of  the  total  amount  paid  for  teachers' 
salaries.  Should  the  local  authorities  provide  a 
ten-acre  farm  which  should  be  conducted  as  a 
model  farm  by  the  principal,  who  should  receive 
all  the  produce,  and  should  they  build  thereon  a 
house  for  the  use  of  the  principal,  the  state  should 
pay  an  additional  subvention 

c — Rural  schools  of  the  second  class 

(1)  Such  a  school  shall  be  conducted  for  not  less  than 

nine  months  and  shall  employ  a  first  grade  teacher 
at  a  salary  of  not  less  than  $50  a  month  and  one 
assistant  teacher  at  not  less  than  $45  per  month. 
It  shall  have  library  facilities,  educational  equip- 
ment, heating,  ventilation  and  sanitaries  such  as 
shall  be  prescribed  by  the  state  departm'ent 

(2)  The  state  should  pay  to  the  school  board  controlling 

such  a  school  a  subvention  of  $250  per  annum 

d — Rural  schools  of  the  third  class 

(1)  Such  a  school  shall  be  in  session  not  less  than  eight 

months  per  annum.  The  teacher  shall  have  at 
least  a  second  grade  certificate  and  shall  receive  a 
salary  of  not  less  than  $45  a  month.  It  shall  have 
library  facilities,  educational  equipment,  heating, 
ventilation  and  sanitaries  such  as  shall  be  pre- 
scribed by  the  state  department 

(2)  The  state  shall  pay  to  the  school  board  controlling 

such  a  school  an  annual  subvention  of  $100 

e — Rural  schools  of  the  fourth  class 

(1)  All  other  rural  schools  shall  be  included  in  the  fourth 
class.    Such  schools  shall  be  liable  at  any  time  to 


92     Conditions  and  Needs  of  Rural  School?  in  Wisconsin. 

be  closed  on  the  recommendation  of  the  county 
superintendent  or  the  county  board  of  education 
if  their  enrollment  falls  below  twelve,  and  shall  be 
liable  to  lose  their  proportion  of  the  7-10  mill  tax, 
when  reported  on  unfavorably  as  to  efficiency, 
equipment,  and  sanitation  to  the  state  superintend- 
ent of  public  instruction  by  the  county  superintend- 
ent, or  by  a  state  inspector  of  rural  schools 


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